


Wolf Lord? Susi Hera?

by Arika_the_Togepi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: I could finish this, I think I still have all the story ideas, M/M, Old but I liked the plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arika_the_Togepi/pseuds/Arika_the_Togepi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lord Voldemort has been turned into a wolf! Why does this happen? Why is Harry Potter carrying him around and calling him Tumma Herrani, what is a Tumma Susi, and exactly when did Harry Potter go dark? Cursing magical and muggle. Light Bashing. I don't even know with the foreign word stuff (language nerd). <br/>I just wanted Tom to be the animal for once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dammit Dammit Dammit. What was I meant to do now? I growled in frustration, only bringing more attention to my little...predicament. It was Wormtail's fault! I knew I shouldn't have trusted him with anything, yet, idiotically, I did- and see where that got me! Okay, time to calm down. I was not helping the situation by losing my temper yet again. I should think back over what has happened, and see if there is anything to do about it...

I was at my house in Little Hangleton. Normally I was in Slytherin Manor, overseeing something related to my Death Eaters, but I was doing a ritual that was meant to give me the power of the moon. Also, I looked like Tom Riddle, not Lord Voldemort. I liked this body more, it was just... Nicer. If it had worked (the rune ritual), I could have been incredibly strong!

I set Wormtail to helping me, as some runes had to be drawn on my back. I only had him do one rune. Just one rune. I didn't think that even he could not mess that up. Yet he did. Somehow he managed to draw the rune upside down, and I noticed to late. He bolted the moment he realised what was happening. However, the deed was done. I was transforming, based on the runes now covering my body.

I expected it to be painful, but it wasn't really. Nothing compared to having your soul ripped out of you after having tried to kill a defenceless almost two year old. I closed my eyes when I felt the bones in my body shifting. Most of the ritual had stayed the same, so whatever was happening had to have something to do with the moon. When I felt the changing cease, I looked down at myself. I was a wolf.

Okay, I saw how that was connected to the moon, but I was furious! I might have been less furious, if perhaps, I was over two feet tall! I was completely black, not something I was surprised at, and looking in a mirror in the bathroom (I had been in my master bedroom) I saw that my eyes were still red. I bared my new fangs at the image.

I was a little over one foot high, and two feet long. My paws were tiny, everything about me was tiny. I also knew that I looked bigger than I really was because of all this fur. I had to go somewhere, get someone who could help me. Wormtail? Too much of a coward to even face me. Lucius? Probably wouldn't recognise I was Voldemort. Severus? It was a good chance, but I still did not know where his true loyalties lie, and I could be easy picking in this small body. I could not do any magic or talk either.

I didn't know who else to go to. Most of the Death Eaters may have been useful, but they were utter idiotic morons. I thought about it while sitting there in my room. The door opened, and I Wondered who would disturb me at this time- I was supposedly still in ritual. I saw that it was Nagini. She was hissing, and I could still understand her.

"The fat short one says that something happened master. He is cowering, and annoying me so. Master?" She looked at me, with and odd look in her eye. I realised that the odd look was hunger. I tried to call her, and order her to stop, but it did no good. Looking like this, I could not speak in Parsletounge any more than I could the human tongue. "What is this? Another something for me to eat? I have not eaten anything s tasty looking as you in a few days..." And she was after me.

I stopped trying to speak to her and simply ran. Chased by my own familiar! I ran out of my room, Nagini followed after. She was a damn fast snake. Of course, I had trained her to be. And venomous. I rushed downstairs, which was hard considering the steps were almost as high as I was.

At the bottom was a small hallway that led to the living room on one end (not that it was ever used for anything sociable) and the halfway down it was the great door to outside. Wormtail was coming in with some bags in his hands- probably groceries and the like. I flitted past him out the door, feeling very odd, like a Gryffindor. Not something I liked.

I heard Wormtail shriek as he saw Nagini chasing after me, though I don't think he saw me. Not very good that one, very stupid actually. I know that he closed the door on Nagini, she was not meant to leave the house except the garden, in case she got into trouble. So at least she couldn't get me.

But I was no longer inside, and it was a breezy day in August. Not that I was anywhere near cold with my mounds of fur, and I could easily find somewhere to sleep the night in the mangled bushes or in the shadows. Yet, I was, again, trapped. I could not go back inside, not that I really had any desire too. However, I could not stay in the front garden for ever, and the gate was locked. Meaning I could not simply push it open- otherwise anyone or thing could have gone up to my house. It would be hard, but it would have been much more possible.

As the sun sank silently across the horizon, I decided that trying to find a way out in the dark of night will not help my situation. I settled into an almost dead bush- with a few withered pale green leaves hanging from it. As I got comfortable, a small, withered leaf floated down onto my nose.

I decided to quit with the sentimental shit.

I woke to the sound a sharp breeze in the thin twigs above my head, leaves acting like wind chimes that don't make much noise. I put my feet out in front of me, arching my back into a stretch. I growled slightly, thinking about what had happened yesterday- impossible to forget as accounted to where I was and how I looked.

Absent-mindedly grooming myself- something I could not resist, I had to get the crumbled leaf bits out of my fur- I thought about my predicament. Wormtail often left the manor to go and fetch certain things for myself or Nagini that he could not create using a wand. He had to walk down the mile and a half between the manor front door and the ate to apparate away because there were very strong disapparation charms over the manor.

With all the other safety precautions I have taken, it would be idiotic to forget that a strong enough wizard (cough, Dumbledore, cough) could get onto the property simply by apparating. And bring a whole team of auror's no doubt. One of the things he got me everyday was a newspaper- both muggle and The Daily Prophet. When he was leaving today- and I had no doubt he would, whether I was there or not he went out every day- I could sneak past him out the gate.

This made me angry. I should not have to go through this, simply to get off of my property! I am the Dark Lord Voldemort! How dare this be done to be me!

But once again I had to control my temper, losing it would not help at all. I ceased stretching and looked up at the sky. It seemed as if it might rain today- I hoped not. It's bad enough being a wolf barely the size of a baby dog, but to be a soaked baby dog sized wolf sounded even worse.

Slightly off balanced, I padded over to the gate slowly. I had run from Nagini, but I was in a hurry, and adrenaline often gives you better reflexes than you normally have- not to mention running was more of an instinct. Fight or flight response, and the animal part of my new body just took over for me, as there was no way I could fight Nagini.

The gates had come into view, but were still quite far away. The sun peeped through the clouds, and I rose my head to the sky; still walking. Some of the sunlight shone on my face, and I rose my head; stepping into the warm sunlight. I paused, closing my eyes briefly, relaxing for only a second. Then I moved on. I could not relax, I had to get down to the gate before Wormtail, as, even if he hasn't left the house yet, he will be a lot faster than me.

It felt like a long time, getting to the rusty old black gate. The sun was now higher in the sky; maybe eight am. I could, faintly, hear a door opening and closing, and small, quick steps on the small trail that led to the gate entrance. Wormtail was finally coming. Before he arrived, I decided to look at the gate. It was very old, black paint was chipping off of it making it a brownish red colour.

It was in absolutely disgusting shape is basically the gist of it, and no doubt would make a horrible screeching noise the moment Wormtail tried to open it; hopefully giving me a brief window of chance in which to escape. I would like to growl at him for his stupidity, bite his leg maybe; but I would probably not scare him, only make him send an Avada Kedarva at me- a miserable way to die, at the hands of the (terrified minion's) same person who brought you back to life. Even if it was out of fear.

The gate bars were not big enough for me to slip through, maybe two, or three inches apart. Wormtail was coming closer, now in my extended field of limited colour vision. He looked frightened to the brink of death (by which I mean slightly more than usual), so either that meant Nagini was bothering and threatening him again, or he was worried about what he did last night. Which he probably wasn't, he had absolutely no idea dangerous and risky using rune magic is, let alone when you draw one wrong!

I pressed myself to the bars beside the gate door, hoping that my black fur would help me blend in; slitting my bright, blood red eyes to stick out in the dark scenery less. Wormtail's eyes seemed to look straight at me, and yet, passed over me; the man was such an idiot!

With a muttered curse at the gate door with his wand Atra Patefacio, (A powerful Dark Opening spell in Latin) the door flew open. As he was distracted, I bolted past him in a flurry of black fur; leaving a stuttering Wormtail to wonder what just happened. I know that he soon forgot about it, simply saying it was him being paranoid, yet again.

I didn't stop to see where I was going, simply out of the gate and down the hill to the muggle town; which I had never been in. I had actually not gone outside all summer; the last time I did go out was my last attempt to kill the Potter Brat. I hated that little monster, always getting in the way of my plans; but something was different about him when I saw him at the Ministry- he looked older, wiser, darker. There was an evil glint in his eye that spoke of a pain that I would never know of; what caused it I have no idea.

Also, I could feel the flux of her magic when he was trying to use the Crucio on Bellatrix; I knew that he could do it if he wanted- but that's just it, he didn't. He did not want to hurt her, even though she killed his godfather; another shine in his eye said that he was almost grateful, why I could not fathom- did the Brat not love his godfather as the saviour of the light should? Though he was a pain in the ass, always messed up my plans, was destined to kill me, and my mortal enemy, I had to admit; the boy was intriguing and as interesting as they come.

Shaking my head, I tried to clear my thoughts of the Potter Brat, I needed to think about what I was going to do, and where I was going to go now that I was away from the manor grounds. I still couldn't use magic, or speak- or I could, but it was only in wolf, not human English- for that matter. I also needed to try and stay away from humans; I knew that they were meant to hate wolves- be terrified of them actually- I looked like no more than an innocent puppy. And being put in a muggle home would just cause to many problems, one being I might not find a way to change myself back; the other being that I absolutely hated muggles, and would more than likely end up biting one.

So, upon reaching the muggle establishments I slowed down, slinking into the shadows away from the human eye. I needed a way to get to wizarding London and if I could find someone to help me. Who I would get to help I still don't know; I started feeling very much like a Gryffindor again, something I really did not want to feel. I stopped walking completely, making sure no one else was around, and sat down to think over my plan. How was I to get to wizarding London? What would I do if I got there? Who could- would- help me? Rodolphus, maybe. He was one of my smartest Death Eaters, and the only one that might recognise me; then help me instead of possibly taking advantage of my vulnerable state.

I wondered if there might be any wizards frequenting Little Hangleton, as that might help. If I could get one of them to realise that I am a wizard transformed; they might get me an antidote, which after taking I would kill them and any who had seen me as a wolf.

Walking around Little Hangleton, I looked over each aspect, how old it was, if it was muggle made or not, to see if there were any signs of vampires living here; any magical creature really. The town was small, not many people lived here, and not many people wanted to- I could understand. Each house was slightly run down, rickety looking, with small front yards and the roads were cramped; allowing only one car to drive down at a time creating a lot of traffic jams it seemed. In the middle of the dull town was a square, with a fountain and a few benches. I ran across the open street to hide underneath one of the benches that had a bush behind it for cover.

The water splashes loudly from the fountain, a few drops going out onto the cobblestone pavement every one a while. Across the street I saw a small boy talking to his mother about something unimportant. She- the mother- walked to a truck one did not normally see in the UK, a pick up truck, with the gate on the back down. It was a dark blue colour, but faded too, rusty as she opened the door- a;ready unlocked.

She picked up the child and placed him in the passenger side seat, strapping a seat belt around him. Closing the door hard, she walked around to the other side of the truck quickly, opening her door, climbing in and revving the engine. I knew -a Gryffindor thing about to pop up I fear- that I had to get onto that truck. As the bed of the truck was open, I should have easily been able to jump in- but, being only two feet tall really does complicate things. The car started to back up and I had to move with it to keep from getting run over.

Down the car there was a group of rocks- some kind of old memorial for an old dead man- each ruggedly taller than the other- like steps. I bolted to them, climbing each with small difficulty. At the top of the last rock, I pressed myself down hoping not to be looked at by the muggles. The child was to busy playing with some light thing, and the woman was looking straight ahead to the road. I, quietly as I could, jumped onto the back of the truck as it went speeding past.

There was a small thump, but I don't think the muggles heard; there was music spouting from a weird contraption built into the truck with many knobs on it. I fell on my side, but it didn't hurt to much; I licked it to make sure I gained no scratches or anything from the rocks. Then I proceeded to move to the back of the truck as not to fall off.

No One POV:  
Jimmy was happy. His mommy was taking him to see his best friend John who had moved this last week. His mommy had said that he wasn't allowed seeing him at first because John needed time to settle in and et everything moved around and cleaned up. But now they were going to see him, and it was going to be so fun! He was telling his mommy how much fun it was going to be.

"John will show me around the house, then we'll go see his room, and then we'll go outside and play on the park that he said was near his house! It'll be so great, and then when we come back, we'll eat dinner and..." the list of fun things to do went on and on. He really wanted to the ark that John told him about; John had been there once and said it was really cool. With a swing set and a slide and everything.

As his mommy lifted him up off the ground after opening the car door for him as he couldn't reach, he asked, "Can you tell me his house number again Mommy? I know that he must have told me a ton of times, but I still can't remember it. It was really weird, and I think it started with 'mim' or 'lim' or 'krim' or something."

His mommy sighed but smiled, and buckled him in; making sure the seat belt was tight around him before shutting the door and walking over to her own side and getting in. She turned on the engine. "It was a weird place Jimmy, they forget to add one of the buildings you know. John lives at number fourteen. Number fourteen Grimmauld Place. The weird part is that there is no twelve- it goes straight from eleven to thirteen. Strange right?"

Jimmy smiled. He believed that whenever a number was missing, it meant that magic had taken the place away to let the magical people live there.

Being a muggle and growing up in muggle Little Hangelton, he never knew how right he was about the magic hiding the house. He did not understand what good (or bad, depends on who you are and how you look at it) he, his mother, and friend John did for the Wizard World that day, and soon they forgot about it. He also, never heard the small thump come from the back of the truck either.

~HarryPotterIsAwesome~

Tom POV:  
I was watching the scenery go by to try and find out where exactly I was going, and if it was in the direction I wanted; so waking up certainly did not seem the right thing for me to do as I did not remember falling asleep. Yet here I was, still in a rusty old pick-up truck that were not seen often in England, watching country and cows go by. Eventually houses appeared, and I wondered how long I had been asleep, surely not for long- the sun did not seem to be any higher in the sky; that was for sure. It shined on my black fur making it look even darker than it already was- as if the colour of the black simply absorbed the sunlight, taking it out of existence completely.

All of the houses- or apartments as some of them looked, were tall with few windows. We passed a small child's play park, a small forest, and reached a long line of houses on a street called Grimmauld. The sign name ringed no bells in me, though it felt as though it should; as if I was missing something very important. The truck parked out of number fourteen, and I looked over to see how many of them there were.

When I could see no farther that way, I counted backwards. Fourteen...Thirteen...Eleven...Ten... Wait. Thirteen, and then, what the? Could muggles not count? There was no number twelve! How idiotic of the muggles to forget it.

I heard the engine of the truck stop, and a door handle being clicked, I ran from my place underneath the back window to jump off- hurting my smoothly padded feet slightly as they hit the uneven, rough ground. I took off at a run again, running to the cover of the forest. I did not stop at the road, seeing no cars in sight.

I slowed in the safety of the thick group of pine trees, the pine needles softening the ground. I stopped to think, absent-mindedly watching the muggles I had taken a ride of off without their knowledge. The mother helped the child down, and holding his hand, walked him up to number fourteen's door; ringing the bell awaiting permission to enter. When they disappeared inside I took to looking around me in the forest.

Who knew what kind of thins could be in here? Terrible, non-disciplined, savage animals that would think hey were better than myself. A few minutes later, two cheery, young voices, snapped me out of my quiet brooding. It was the little boy and another one the same size as him. There was a, what looked like twelve, year old girl following them silently, if not angrily. Looking very annoyed, she took both of their hands and walked them across the road quickly, back down the road- opposite of the way the truck had been driving.

I decided to follow them with nothing better to do. Who knew? They might lead me somewhere I could get food and water. Thinking about it, I realised I was very hungry, having ate nothing yesterday for the rune ritual, and none today as I had the body of the wolf and no time to hunt- let alone something to hunt or the knowledge of how to.

I found out that the girl was taking the two young ones to the park that I had seen earlier, no doubt because they were too young to go alone; which was probably why she was so annoyed, she didn't want to. The park itself had none of the things I needed. There was a kiddie slide, sandbox area,a thing to climb on, a few benches, and a swing set- that had someone on it actually.

The someone was tall, with a slight tan on his arms, and long raven hair that fell past his shoulders. He was wearing worn blue jeans that were lighter around the knees from what could have been constant kneeling and use. He also was wearing a dark blue shirt that had a dark red rose on front, with a green stem and thorns. Underneath the picture it read in dark green ( the same colour as the stem), slanted writing A rose may look beautiful, smell beautiful, and act beautiful, but it is still deadly. He was also wearing black shoes, the laces done up in what looked like a thousand knots.

I took one step closer to him and his head snapped up to my general area, from where it had been facing the ground but a moment ago. In this new position, I could see the eyes; those horribly jaded eyes with such a long, bloody history. I could see them clear as day, they were staring right at me; and it felt as if he knew who and what I was.

Damn it, the boy was Potter! He was just sitting on the bench, swaying forward and backward slightly, not really moving at all; staring at me. His head tilted to one side, and his eyes narrowed as well, before he looked away; away to the girl and her charges, to other humans.

Seeing them, he must have realised who they were, and wanted no interaction with them. The girl saw him and watched his actions warily, as if he posed a huge threat to whom she was looking after- which he did, not that he would do anything. Potter stood up, walking towards the forest, towards me; not sparing the girl another glance. The look that I had seen at the Ministry was there again; the look of slight determination, wisdom, and he had a secret that could tip the war, change the world ultimately.

I backed into the trees, knowing that Potter had already seen me; but the girl hadn't. I didn't need her eyes following his and seeing me, he was enough of a problem without adding a muggle to it. Potter was still looking at me intently, and I wanted to run. Run, like I had from Nagini, like I had from Wormtail and the front garden, like I had from truck.

However I couldn't, I knew it would do no good; wolves were one of the only animals that did not run from humans, but stand their ground- no matter how old they are. They had to much pride or some shit like that, and thinking this; I thought of how alike they were to Gryffindor's and lions.

Potter was nearing me, I had lost any chance to run anyway; considering how fast he could run to myself, he would catch me in no time. I did have to wonder why he was here, alone, with no supervision like at the Dursley's. Coming closer, I growled at him, and he chuckled to himself.

"Now now, I won't hurt you, and you can't hurt me." It might have been the way he said it, that I couldn't hurt him, but it made it sound as if he knew my problem. Not that it mattered, nothing I could do about it. If I bit him (which I very much wanted to do, I will admit) he would simply throw me off of him and heal himself.

He chuckled again. "Oh come on, I could be worse. Come on," Potter held out his hand. "I can take you to my home, and we can get you something to eat, sleep, and relax. No one there will hurt you- I will make sure of it." I snorted, as much as a wolf could, and Potter looked at me sternly. "I realise you don't want to, but you don't really have another choice; do you? You're far to young and slow to catch anything out here- and you'd hardly like it. If you come with me, I'll get you anything you want."

I was still dubious of doing it, I didn't trust him, and he shouldn't trust me, even if I didn't look like the Dark Lord, his mortal enemy. Yet, he spoke the sad truth; I had nowhere else to go, couldn't hunt, had no access to water, and comfort. Maybe, if I went with him, I could learn about where he was staying to try and come back to attack when I was changed back. So, slowly, I walked up to the hand and sniffed it. He pet me on the head, and I felt a rumble in my throat, much like that of a purr (instinct I swear!).

Potter slowly picked me up, very gently, into his arms; almost as if waiting for me to bite him. I should, but then, I might not get any food, and I was really hungry. Potter petted my head a little more, and he walked back the way I had come, faster obviously. He said quietly, "Tumma Herrani." I raised my head, asking him to explain it with a slight turn of the head. He chuckled again, darkly this time, "Your new name. Tumma Herrani. Herrani for short." I rolled my eyes t him-a strangely friendly gesture that I was not use to. I did not need a name, but then it might arise suspicion if he called me Voldemort, or Tom if the Weasley girl or Dumbledore was around- let alone the fact that him calling me that insisted upon him knowing who I was.

Potter walked out of the trees at almost exactly where I had entered. I followed his eyes to the houses; we were looking at the spot between house eleven and thirteen. Harry mumbled quietly, "Welcome to my house, which is under a very strong Fidelus charm. Number twelve Grimmauld Place, also known as headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, and a very strong safe house." He chuckled.

"Dumbledore thinks that he is the secret keeper, because Sirius let him use it before he died, giving it to him. However, it said in his will that the house was to passed on to me; meaning that while Dumbledore is a secret keeper for everyone else, I am now above him. I can move or take down the wards, and tell other people about this place."

I blinked owlishly. That was a lot to take in; and I could not fathom why he was telling this to a black wolf puppy that he picked up in the forest out of the middle of nowhere, yet here we were. This was very valuable information on the Order, and himself, why would he tell anyone? Especially out in the open? For all he knows, I could be a dark spy animagus!

Well his loss is my gain, I guess. He said, "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, show yourself." And then numbers eleven and thirteen move over, not that any muggles seemed to notice the change. A door appeared, and Harry just walked up to open it. And that, is how Harry Potter ended up taking my puppy-sized wolf form, into The Order of the Flaming Chicken's Secret HQ.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as we were in the door I started to look around to take everything in. I was, of course, a perfect Slytherin, so I wasn't about to let anything get by me. I noticed all of the small details of the inner hallway of the house: there was mold in the corner showing no one really cared about the house, a carpet that was clean but frayed at the edges signifying that it was an old house, stairs that looked rickety and from what I could tell a third step that would make a creaky noise if it was stepped on.

I also noticed an orange haired woman that was coming towards me making an annoying yappy noise that I realized was her voice. If I knew my Potter trivia correctly, then I knew that this was Molly Weasley, a woman he considered to be his mother and the actual mother of his best friend Ronald Weasley. Along with Ronald she had six other children, only the youngest being a girl. From what I had heard she was also a bit of a smotherer

"Harry! Where have you been? You know you're not to be going out without asking one of us first!" the Weasley matriarch exclaimed, loudly. It was so loud, in fact, that it hurt my ears and I was prepared to bury my face and ears into Potter if she talked again, because at least that way she would be slightly muffled.

Tom was not expecting a Slytherin answer to what the annoying ginger said, however, and so his planned was stopped when Potter said, "Well I didn't tell any of you because you wouldn't have let me go. I was just out for a walk. No harm done."

"This time!" the Weasley shouted. "You nearly gave us all heart attacks!"

Potter laughed, if a little darkly, and I noticed a movement at the door. A tall dark man was coming from the kitchen, and Potter seemed a little relieved to be seeing him. "Molly leave the boy alone. You know what happens when we coop him up." Snape muttered, coming to the defense of the person I thought he hated. Why was he helping Potter?

Clearly whatever he had said, no matter the reason behind it, had worked as Molly (as I know I shall encounter more Weasley's I believe calling them by their first names might be the most proficient) blushed and stopped talking, before making an excuse and leaving.

"Thanks Snape. She can be a pain in the ass sometimes." Potter also muttered, and I was surprised to hear him swear. Wasn't he meant to be innocent?

"Can't have a Weasley dig into you, now can I? I promised your mother to keep you safe from all things, gingers included." Snape rolled his eyes at Potter and I got the feeling that I was missing something big, something I hadn't felt since I was a teenager.

"Yes well, you have done a good job so far- passing fake information to Voldemort for us, spying. I don't think I could do it personally." Potter said nonchalantly as I jumped up in his arms.

Wait a minute. Severus was a spy? I had heard the rumors, but of course, there were always those. I had honestly believed that- Dammit all to Hell! Of course, of course, of course! I hadn't spared Lily, even though I tried she wouldn't get out of the way, and as such Snape hated me; I knew that. But I didn't expect him to turn on me!

Well, shit.

While my revelation was going on inside my head the traitor and Potter continued there conversation as Severus joked for Merlin's sake, "Well yes. But you couldn't do it because of your shit occulumency skills."

Potter just rolled his eyes to that and shifted me in his arms. He looked down to me as I made a small noise at my revelation and at hearing Snape of all people crack a joke, and said man looked down at me. "Where did you get this thing?"

"I found him outside on my walk." Potter said, holding me up to his chest with one arm as the other came up to pet me. "I am keeping him, and I named him Tumma Herrani. Or Herrani for short."

Snape narrowed his eyes at me the traitor, but I couldn't really bring myself to care while Potter's hand was still petting my back. It wasn't my fault it felt so damn good, it was just stupid instincts, of course.

Of course.

"Anyway, we had better go up stairs. I need to get this guy some food, and I need to disappear before the dogs arrive."

"You say this as you hold a dog in your arms."

"He is not a dog. He is a wolf, and he is adorable. Can't say the same thing about Hermione and Ron."

As I tried to get over the fact that Potter had just called his friends dogs and stood up for me, I was trying to stay in Potter's arms as I was carried up the steps in them.

Apparently Potter knew about the creaky third step because he skipped over it, and still was able to hold me in his grasp without jostling me, this was something I did have to give him credit for. Still, I didn't like the feeling that he was going to drop me so I dug my claws into his sleeve. It seemed Potter felt me do so.

"No need to worry, little Herrani. I won't drop you." While I believed him, I still didn't let go.

As we got up to the top of the steps Potter walked down a long hallway and went up some more steps. When we had repeated this twice and had to be at the top of the house, Potter came out on the landing of this latest set of steps.

In Potter's arms as he stood on the landing I cold see a small circular window to my right, where I could see other houses, probably thirteen or eleven. In front of us was a door that I guessed led to Potter's room, and to my left was just a dark, dusty wall.

I thought Potter was just going to go for the handle but instead he said a password, Light's Shadow, and the door opened. While the password itself was debatable, I was shocked he used Parseltongue to guard his door. Didn't he still think it a dark trait that only dark wizards used?

Potter's room was much cleaner than he thought it would be. There wasn't much just laying around on the floor except a piece of clothing here and a small trinket there. It wasn't overly crowded either. There were no posters on the walls, no graffiti or anything.

In fact, the room itself was pretty tiny. To my right there was a door that came to a point at the top that I guessed was a mini bathroom, to my left was a dresser and vanity set made of oak. On top of the dresser there was a hairbrush, a notebook, and a pen. In the mirror were little pictures, some muggle and some magical of various people that I didn't know.

In front of me was the bed, that instead of being Gryffindor read and gold as I expected it to be, was a dark green and purple. There was a dark green bed sheet and pillow, it was a four poster and the drapes were dark green. As the drapes were open so that I could see through to the wall the bed was placed up against I could see a small window that was identical to the one outside, if a bit bigger. Out it I could see a forest, and the sky. I could understand why Potter would like this room, for it's privacy if nothing else.

Also, next to the dresser and at the foot of the bed up agains the wall there was a bookshelf that stretched to reach the pointed ceiling. There were many books in it, and over some of the books I saw a slight haze on the spines. Almost as if someone cast a glamour charm on them and it was strong enough that while I noticed it I couldn't see through it.

As I had been gazing around Potter's room, he seemed to have been busy. I noticed that he had conjured a small bed and two bowls. One bowl was plastic and empty, while the other was metal and filled with water. I saw Potter chuckle to himself before writing Tumma one one of them and Herrani on the other. I figured out then that these were to be my food and water bowls.

I was becoming Harry Potter's pet.

"Look, I can tell you don't want to use these." I looked up at Potter as he began speaking to me, as if I were a human. "But I can't have you making my room a mess and it's not like I am going to try and feed you the crap that Mrs. Weasley makes. How about some steak?"

I didn't want to, but I really couldn't help it. It was in my genetics I suppose, just my instincts as a canine animal. I sat down and wagged my tail, doing what the others in my year at Hogwarts would have called, "Puppy Dog Face." It was basically a begging face, but I refused to admit that I was begging for food from Harry Potter of all people.

He conjured me a steak and that did put me off a bit. While I loathed doing anything that could compare me to a muggle, even I had to admit that conjured food just didn't taste as good as normal food.

"Trust me, it won't taste as bad as you think." Potter had said as he cut it up and put it in his bowl. "It wasn't really conjured. Just precooked and then brought here. Of course, you can't make food, that defy's laws of magic."

I was a little surprised Potter even knew of the laws, but the smell of the steak distracted me. I did absently wonder why Potter had an already cooked steak in the vicinity, but I didn't really care as I began to snap up the little bits of meat. Wherever Potter learned to cook, he was bloody good.

There was a calling up the stairs for Potter to 'come down for dinner', but Potter ignored them. When there was a thumping on the stairs Potter climbed into his bed and told me to get underneath it. A notice-me-not charm was placed on my food bowls, and the curtains pulled close on Potter's bed.

From my vantage point of under the bed I could see the feet of what looked to be a female, as soft as they were, and from what I smelled of her it was another Weasley, but not Molly. I deduced it was Ginevera, or Ginny, then. The one that was emotionally scarred in Potter's second year when he destroyed one of my horcruxes. I had to get back at him for that, as well.

Eventually the girl left and Potter got up from him bed. "I really don't feel like dealing with them all today, and Snape has to go do something tomorrow so he had to leave early- and above all I hate dealing with them alone. So from time to time I just pretend to be asleep. They believe I don't get enough for some reason, and so leave me alone whenever I am."

The notice-me-not charm on my food was lifted, and I finished eating. As I did Potter went into the bathroom and I heard the shower start to run. I guessed that he had a silencing charm on the room so the others wouldn't hear him, and I honestly wouldn't have been surprised about it at this point.

It hadn't even been five hours and I was already rethinking every thing I knew about Potter, who was far more Slytherin that I had ever cared to ponder before. But now I had time to do so, I saw that it was so true.

I finished up just as Potter came out of the bathroom in a towel, and I hid under the bed so that I wouldn't have a temptation to look at Potter. Sure, I knew he was gay (it was all over the papers when he came out), and sure I was too, but one thing I was not was a pervert. And it was wrong to stare at someone as they were naked when they were helping you.

No matter how much you wanted to.

I heard Potter pull on his pajama bottoms and I saw his feet. I came out from underneath the bed once I was sure he was finished dressing, and I was shocked to learn that he slept without his shirt on. He clambered into the bed and I jumped into the dog bed that he had conjured for me earlier. I don't know how long it was, but from my point of view it was five minutes until I figured that the dog bed was far too uncomfortable.

I jumped out of it and looked around me for a more comfortable place to sleep; and seeing that Potter's bed was the only place in the room I put my paws up on the edge. I wasn't big enough to clamber on without help, but I could prod Potter in the head until he woke up and helped me on.

Thankfully it did turn out the way, and soon after Potter awoke I was snuggling into a warm blanket that smelled of Potter. It smelled nice and made me feel slightly safe (Dark Lord's never feel completely safe), something that I didn't care to dwell on at the moment. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep next to Potter, on his bed, at the stop of the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, stuck as a small wolf creature and currently under the ownership of Harry Potter.

Considering the circumstances, things could be worse.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up the next morning with a terrible headache. A growl escaped my throat as I thought about who I was going to Crucio for giving me such a blistering headache and that I needed to take a headache potion. I opened my eyes only when I felt the bed that I was lying on shift underneath me.

Immediately I remembered what had happened, mainly because the first thing that I saw when my eyes opened was a pair of bright green eyes looking at me full of mischief. It looked a little out of place to me, the mischief in those eyes, because I knew those eyes and of all of the things I have ever expected to see in them, mischief was not one of them.

I saw the grin on the dark red lips next, and I knew that there was something about to happen, something no one would expect and perhaps, a little hilarious (but of course, only if it wasn't happening to me).

Potter rose a hand to his face and put a finger to his lips, signifying that I should be quiet. I could not help it though, because as I was lying on Potter's chest and he on his back, his sudden jostle of me made me yelp a little bit.

Potter only continued to smile, however, and so I calmed down and remained quiet, hoping to hear whatever Potter wanted me to and was so happy about. I was a little confused for a moment, and then I heard it: there was a scream.

Potter's grin grew ever bigger, and I cocked my head to the side to listen. There was another, both this and the first one were high pitched making me think it was likely one of the females in residence.

Then, a lower voice also shouted something I couldn't make out, and Potter whispered, "I put toy snakes in everyone's beds while you were sleeping. They are realistic rubber muggle snakes, but I charmed them to move about and hiss. Everyone is so paranoid you know? I thought it would be hilarious."

There were more screams, both high and low pitched, I caught a few spells being cast, and some apparating noises going off outside. Potter was laughing but trying to stay silent so that we may hear what was going on in the floors below us. I felt a large magical presence on the land and I knew that the old goat had arrived.

As funny as I thought this might be, I knew that Potter was going to get in trouble for it if the had called Dumbledore himself to come and help. Perhaps it was only a stupid joke played on overly paranoid people, but snakes do signify Slytherins and I know that all of the Gryffindors downstairs must have been terrified. Of course, that was what made it so damn funny.

A, "HARRY POTTER," was shouted up the stairs, and the raven wizard didn't stop laughing even as he got up out of the bed. I was dropped onto the floor and told that I could follow if I wanted to but that I would need to be careful so as not to get caught. Potter left the door open so in the case I needed to quickly run back up to his room I could.

On the way out the door Potter muttered, "I was right you know," and I thought back, what had he said last? Oh yes, that he thought it would be funny.

The way downstairs took me a little longer than it should have. I was maybe as tall as one of of the step, and so I could just reach my front paws to the next stair down while keeping my back paws on the stair I was currently on.

Potter found it amusing, but I just found it difficult. I could have, of course, pounded down the stairs like a normal canine animal, but that would have made far to much noise while I was trying to be unseen.

When we got to the bottom of the staircase and at the next floor down from Potter's I hid behind his feet, and while he walked forward and past the staircase I darted to the left and his behind a box that sat underneath a table, which was an efficient hiding place because the table covered me on the top and the box covered my sides.

It was dark enough in the hallway that I could, with my black fur, peep my head out of the side of the box and was unlikely to get noticed as long as my eyes were droopy.

I realized that while it would be terrible if they found me, if for whatever reason Potter couldn't save me, it would also be quite hilarious to watch. Considering I was dark furred, red eyed, and had wolf fangs; it could also be the reason I would be killed on spot if not being held by Potter, so I didn't want to chance it.

There was a loud thumping noise that sounded like feet as many people were coming up the stairs. I guessed that the third floor wasn't used for much, and I was proved correct when no one came from the hallway that lead down it (the stairs were at one end of the hallway, both the ones leading up and down, as no one came down that hallway I figured there was no one back there).

I saw many, many, gingers. There was a ginger man whom I recognized from Lucius' description of him from the Ministry, Arthur Weasley. Molly wasn't there, but I did see a tall rugged looking man with scars littering his arms; whom I guessed was Charlie Weasley, the second eldest.

Another tall ginger with long hair and scars was William, or Bill, I think he goes by. Ronald and Ginevra, Potter's two supposed ginger friends were no where to be seen, nor was the know-it-all Granger.

Arthur was the first to speak, "Harry, I am so glad to see you are okay. Did you see any snakes up there?"

Potter was holding back a snicker, I could tell from the look on his face, as he said, "Nope, no snakes up there."

"Yeah dad," the ginger I had guessed was Bill answered, "probably would have been speaking to them, anyway."

I got the idea that perhaps this red head didn't like Potter all that much, while the words themselves were nothing too bad, the snide and disdain in his voice gave it away.

Charlie on the other hand did seem to care, if only a small amount, "Well, maybe he could have been. But remember, if the snakes were sent on us because of You-Know-Who, what could he have set on Harry?"

That was a good question. Did they honestly think that I could have found the headquarters though? I mean, I am all for being cautious and making mistakes, especially when they are my enemies', but you never want to overestimate your own enemy. Who did they think I was? Merlin? Even I knew I couldn't come close to him.

"Well," Arthur sighed, as I realized why Lucius said that the man had no back bone to anyone, "you look fine. We should go on downstairs, I am sure Molly and the rest are frantic."

Potter snickered, "I bet Snape's here. Can you imagine him frantic?"

The youngest ginger snickered along, but I know that the joke wasn't aimed at him. It was aimed at me, and I was thinking that perhaps Potter needed his brain checked over.

I could of course understand everything he said, I was hardly incompetent, but why did he just assume that I could? From what he thought I was just a common animal that he found outside, why should I understand anything he says?

I didn't know, but I also didn't like it. Potter was up to something, and it was more important and most likely far more dangerous than putting a few enchanted fake snakes into some paranoid people's beds. As he hung back and let the other three go on first, I steeled myself for another set of stairs, and wondered if I would have to be the one to get myself back up them.

I was at the end of the line, behind Potter and the gingers while we were going down the stairs. A good thing I suppose, and as we went farther down it got louder, and I felt more confident in making loud noises on the way, this sped up my own process greatly.

I fell into the back of Potter's ankles once, and he stopped as a reflex. I made a squeaking noise as I collided with his ankle and he paused as the others looked back to him. He shook his head at them seriously, as he made to continue walking, but he paused and leaned backwards, falling onto his ankles in a way.

He picked me up in his right hand, and I stiffened as I was raised into the air. Potter nestled me into the nook of his elbow, with his elbow bent and to his chest I was quite comfortable. I turned my head into his shirt so that my eyes would not give me away.

I felt Potter going down the stairs and I was let back onto the floor at the bottom of the next staircase. We were now on the bedroom floor, I am guessing. The floor that help all of the bedrooms, of course.

I could hear shrieking going on downstairs, and a man came out of the hallway. He smelled akin to myself, a wolf I mean, and I knew he had to be a werewolf in its human form. Lupin probably, a friend to Potter and his little childish cohorts. He nodded to the gingers and Potter, saying, "Harry. You're okay. I was worried You-Know-Who..." the, 'got you,' was left off of the end.

That these people seemed to think me some kind of super villain that could obtain anything with enough time and tries was amazing. Was there not one person in this house that did not over estimate me?

"Nope. Seriously, how could ol' Tommy Boy get me? I think you would have heard, anyway."

Well. Ignoring the horrid name that had me seething more than what the old goat often called me, at least Potter had the decency to honestly take into account not only my powers, but the fact that I was still only human. Or wolf now, I suppose.

"Now Harry," Lupin sighed, "I know you don't want to believe it. But You-Know-Who is a real threat and you should be more worried about him and the Death Eaters."

The raven haired wizard snarled, "Oh yes. Let's trust no one, except Dumbledore. And those in the Order. Oh, and Hermione and Ron, and you can not forget about the teachers at Hogwarts. And the rest of Gryffindor. How am I meant to be careful about who to trust when you keep telling me exceptions? What if we are all wrong? What then? Shouldn't we just try to find happiness and joke around while we still can?"

Lupin and Arthur shook their heads at Potter as if this was a common occurrence. Bill glared at Potter while Charlie simply hung his head, looking as though he wanted to try to help Potter but that he knew any attempt at help would only make more trouble.

Arthur was going to say something when another loud squeal was heard. This time it wasn't a shriek in the sense that something bad has happened, and I could tell that it was more of a shriek of relief. I was proved correct when the ginger matriarch came up the stairs.

Molly Weasley hugged Potter in a smothering way, and I could sense that Potter disliked what she did immensely. He pushed her away from him as she wailed her relief in him being unhurt, and the short wizard rolled his eyes.

"Harry it's so good to see you're okay." the woman looked up to the other men in the room, "Albus has called a meeting, we're all to go."  
Potter's eyes narrowed, "All of us?"

Molly nodded, "Yes, come along Harry," she nodded to the rest of them, "and you three, they're all waiting."

The woman latched her hand onto Potter's wrist, and began to yank him down the stairs. The other gingers followed, along with the wolf that seemed to have yet to smell me. After waiting for everyone else to begin on down the stairs, much like last time, I started my own descent.

This time I could make practically as much noise as I wanted, with the five people in front of me making quite the noise on their own, not to mention that as we neared the bottom floor the noise of all the others in the household grew. Just coming in from an open door was Snape, who must not have stayed the night but was still called by the old goat.

Snape' ever present sneer was as always, on his face, and he glared at the Weasleys and Potter coming down the stairs. It seemed that unless they were alone Potter and Snape still acted as though they hated each other – I filed that little bit of information away.

The dark man noticed me coming down the stairs unlike all the others; but as Potter had introduced me to him earlier (for lack of a better way to put it), it seemed to give me a little immunity. Clearly he understood that Potter didn't want me noticed.

The bottom floor was the same as it had been in the morning, though a bit darker and gloomier thanks to the windows being dark as it was night outside. I waited for the wizards in front of me to bustle down the steps as I followed; and I could smell all the humans that were down stairs.

Two more gingers and a girl with frizzy brown hair came out of the kitchen I had seen that morning, people I recognized as Ginevra, Ronald, and Granger – or in other words, Potter's little friends that helped him escape from me every time. Each looked frantic and the youngest girl looked very frightened; there was something a little off with Ronald though. It seemed there was jealous air about him, but I did not have anything in my mind that the youngest Weasley boy could be jealous about at this time.

Granger ran towards Potter in much the same way that Molly had, and grabbing him by his shoulders she preceded to check him over and make sure that he wasn't injured any. Ginevra was right behind her and seemed as though she wanted to help Granger, but as it only required one person to make a Potter look so unhappy she stood back.

And look unhappy he did; Potter's face hadn't been the most pleasant going down the stairs as the Weasley Matriarch yanked him down them, but while now she had let go of his wrist Granger touching him seemed to make him as unhappy – if not more.

Potter did a good enough job of hiding his disdain for the girl and indeed the two children behind her, but to someone like me who has studied Potter bordering obsessively for his entire life I noticed what he was hiding.

I could not tell exactly why Potter held such a deep hatred for his friends though – were they not his friends? He had called them dogs this morning, but he was joking around with Snape (something I couldn't believe was possible still: Snape, joking!) and while a good friend probably wouldn't have done it it still did no help in my case of trying to find out why he disliked his friends.

Perhaps they were using him? Maybe they were only his friends because of something that the old goat promised them? That certainly sounded like something the powerful man would do – prepare everything for the Boy Who Lived when he came to Hogwarts to make sure his plans were followed perfectly.

Now that I thought about it, that kind of made a weird, twisted kind of sense. I marked it in my head as a possibility but I was forced to think of what I was going to do now as the humans were beginning to congregate in front of me to pull Potter into the kitchen.

Lupin, Arthur, Charlie, Bill, and Molly had already gone through the door that led there, and it looked as though while Snape was only here as back up to Potter (something just came to mind – maybe Snape was glaring at Potter because he knew it was Potter who did it and was unhappy with him to have made it necessary for him to be called?) Granger and the youngest two Weasleys were urgently attempting to drag Potter into the kitchen.

Potter must have given in because he stopped standing where he was and began walking towards the large wooden door that led to the cooking area with the other teenagers. The door was a swing door – meaning it wouldn't stay open unless you held it open, and it also meant that I wasn't getting in unless someone let me in.

I followed Snape's feet as he sighed and followed the rowdy teenagers to the kitchen, and right before he pushed open the door the tall man looked down to where he must have known I was. His eyes narrowed but he must have thought he'd do a nice thing for myself and inadvertently Potter as he opened the door and after walking inside held it open for a few extra seconds.

This allowed me to dash my way into the small room. That was the first thing I noticed about the room that I had just stepped into – it was a small room, and definitely too small for all of the people into it.

I wasn't worried about being seen or noticed by any of the people in this room – there were so many that I knew and didn't know: aurors like Tonks, Shacklebolt, Moody, and others I had not cared to remember the name of, I also saw all of the gingers from the Weasley family, the only one missing being the Percy boy who worked at the ministry like his father.

While I was sure there would be no need of trying to be careful to not be seen in this mess, there was the small matter of not wanting to get kicked because I knew it would be as painful as shit. I ducked behind a vase that held a large tall green plant that was drooping and looked a little brown; clearly no one cared if the plants in the house were dying.

Either way it made a good hiding place for my wolf body so I was glad about it. I noticed the moment that the old goat walked into the room – it was made obvious by the fact that when he did everyone calmed down and some how managed to find a seat.

It was all quiet as the goat spoke, "Is everyone here? No one has been hurt?"

I glared at the old goat as much as I was able but sadly it did not work in my wolf like state and because the man hadn't been looking at me. A good thing I suppose; I much preferred my glare not working on him then having him find me and causing some premature chaos.

The annoying motherly woman spoke first, "No Albus, no one has been hurt thankfully."

Dumbledore nodded to the ginger before asking, "I am afraid that there was no time for anyone to explain exactly what happened. So could someone do so now?"

"Everything was fine and we were all asleep," the wolf spoke up, "when they just appeared-"

"Snakes!" the twin gingers shouted. "Snakes in our beds and on the floor and some were hanging from the walls!" The duo didn't seem unhappy about what happened, or frightened like the others; they simply seemed as if someone had pulled a prank on them and they thought it was such a great prank they were simply in awe of it rather than angry at the prank.

As it was with most pranksters, I suppose.

"Yes, thank you, Fred and George for that description." the old man smiled to them in a grandfatherly way that made me sick. "Does anyone know how they appeared? Judging from the way you are all calm now they are gone?" Wow, the old man really was clueless at what had happened. I couldn't believe it to be honest – even I was used to him knowing everything always.

Ginevra decided to speak now, "They were fake sir. The snakes weren't real."

"Not real?" asked the goat, and to someone who has known him as long as I have could easily hear the slight confusion in his voice.

Granger answered this time, "Yes sir. They were like muggle plastic replicas of snakes that they sell in zoos," she paused to see who understood her this far. Many of the wizards who knew little of the muggle word seemed confused but Dumbledore understood.

Having grown up there myself I knew the muggle world enough to understand her, and what she said as she continued, "These were like that, but they were full size replicas, and charmed to move an hiss like real snakes – which would be why we were all so freaked out."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully but I could tell he was just as confused and slightly panicked as everyone else; and I saw how everyone at the table was either showing worry or fear on their faces – that they thought myself so powerful to be able to get into the house and be able to put snakes into their bed was ludicrous enough, but that they thought if I could I would only put toy snakes? It was even more hilarious!

It was both this thought and that I knew who it actually was that put those fake snakes in the rooms and charmed them that I could barely conceal my wolfish dark chuckling at knowing something no one else did. Or at least knowing something that only one other person knew.

When I looked over to where the one other person was – namely, Potter himself, I saw that he was also trying to keep in his laughter. The only problem was that for Potter if he laughed even a tiny amount everyone would at least see him if not hear him and then he would be in some deep shit.

The only thing was that it seemed Potter couldn't hold it in, and the old man saying, "Does anyone have any ideas of how they were placed there? Did anyone see anything suspicious? Severus you were called by You-Know-Who not a day ago, was there anything he said that might have hinted at this?"

This made Potter's grin from this earlier before we were hauled down the stairs grow back onto his face, as his white teeth began to show he chuckled with his eyes closed and head rested back, hands behind his head. He looked very debonair this way, cocky and confident and a little mysterious.

Before I could wonder why I was thinking of Potter in this way I focused instead on the fact that now everyone's eyes were locked on the so called savior of the wizarding world. He continued chuckling until Arthur asked, "Harry? What's wrong?"

Potter's right lip quirked up ever so slightly making him look akin to the cat who got the milk, while he said, "I just find it a little over reaching that you seem to think that the Darkest Lord in a century," I had to pause it here to take in that Potter somewhat complimented me by using my title, "would be able to find a way into Grimmauld place."

It was obvious to me that Potter wasn't finished speaking, but apparently it was not quite so easy for the others around the table as Granger said, "It is possible Harry. We know that he is very powerful and capable of many more things than us. It is possible that-"

Potter broke her off by slamming his hands on the table and sitting upright, "This may come as a shock to many of you, but Lord Voldemort, despite his many titles and everything he has so claimed to do, is still only HUMAN. He can not do the impossible!"

The shaggy black haired teenager paused for a second to take a deep breath and Granger tried to butt back into the conversation, "Well technically he isn't human because-"

"NO!" Potter stood up quickly and knocked the chair he had been previously sitting on over, and I tried to understand why he was so worked up. He was calm this morning, not to mention, wasn't he supposed to be a personified version of the light?

"He is only human even if he is a messed up human he still is ONE! But okay, let's go on that train of thought, shall we?" Potter placed his hands once again on the table, leaning over it to where Granger was sitting his face looming over her, "If we can agree that, fine, maybe Voldemort can get into Grimmauld place and yes, he could place toy snakes here, then answer me this: why the fuck would he? Why would he put toy snakes meant for children into all of our beds when he could just as easily put real ones?"

Dumbledore looked sadly at Potter as if he knew what was going on, and this confused me. Had something like this happened before that I hadn't heard about?

"Harry we don't know that but it's what we are trying to figure out. Perhaps you should just sit down and try to calm yourself-"

"No!" Potter interrupted. "I know Voldemort would never play such a prank on you all because I am the one that did it. Fine, I said it – I put charmed snakes on all of your beds."

Everyone in the room looked at Potter as if they had been smacked in the face. Some, like the youngest male Weasley had looks of expectance on their face, showing that they were expecting it to have something to do with Potter; while very few – in fact only two people – showed faces of awe at such a prank. Guess who that was.

"But why?" Ginevra asked Potter, trying to give the most pathetic puppy dog face I had ever seen.

The boy began shaking his head as he said, "Everyone is so tense. I wanted to see if I could pull such a childish prank – putting snakes in Gryffindor's rooms – and see if it would be blamed on Voldemort. I honestly didn't think I would have to come out say it."

The old goat was looking worried and I could tell why, he was being seen and showed as a fool by his star pupil. I remembered that just last year even before he lost his godfather he was being explosive and emotional. A lot of that was impossibly being blamed on my.

Maybe Dumbledore was going to do this dark Potter a favor and instead of blaming him for something bad that he did, he would blame me for compelling Potter to do it. Even though that still made no sense – if I could compel Potter any more than the people around me they still would have been real snakes.

Molly was looking especially mortified at the thought of what Potter had done; clearly it really did scare the shit out of her. Then again, she was a mother of seven children and all but one of them were in the house which doesn't count because Potter and Granger would be her surrogate children – so she has eight children in the house, she was most likely much more afraid for them than she was for herself.

Some of the other Order members that didn't live here but were called anyway for the situation were looking a little angry, and, in Snape's case, snarky about having been called in the middle of the night for no real reason. Moody was actually looking at Potter with something akin to pride; maybe he thought that all of those Constant Vigilance's were actually helping him and now he was trying to teach it to others?

Whatever the reason, his expression wen unnoticed by Potter who was still standing but had somewhat straightened from leaning over the table, his hands were still on the table and it's hideous cloth as he waited for someone else to say something.

Yet it didn't seem like anything was going to happen soon. Almost everyone was too shocked to speak or simply didn't know what to say to what had just happened, and I hoped dearly that Potter wouldn't leave the meeting by just running off and up the stairs. I would hate to have him leave me as even though I hated him, I will give him that he did pull a prank on the Order and it looked like he was about to get away with it; and he was still better than all of these other idiots.

Finally, some one spoke up, though sadly it was not a person that I personally thought could say something at this point in time of any potential value to the situation; and instead would only make everything going on incredibly worsened.

In other words, Molly Weasley decided to speak.

"Harry why would you do that though? What was the point of getting all of us frightened so badly and scaring us half to death?" she was acting very motherly and I suppose I couldn't blamed her; having raised seven children this is the only way she knew to get kids to talk. Too bad for her that Potter was immune to it not actually having a mother he could remember.

"That's just it!" Potter shouted, though it was significantly less loud than when he was shouting before. Now, instead of being angry or chuckling he seemed to feel like a parent explaining something to a semi stupid kid that just refused to understand: namely, annoyed.

"That's just it." he repeated, more quietly. When he was down to a talking voice he then explained, "everyone is to tense. I was hoping a prank might get everyone out of it."

Potter pouted and picked up his chair, sitting in it he slouched over the table. I knew what the boy was doing. He didn't care about how tense everyone else was; he actually thought it quite hilarious to play on everyone when they were being so careful.

The only reason he was saying this was because he knew that he was in a pile of shit and now he was trying to drag himself up out of it because he didn't want the consequences. I could not blame him there.

Then again, I think Potter would agree that being forced to sit down here with all of these people bicker about things untrue that you know are not only untrue but ludicrous is punishment enough.

Molly looked at Potter in sympathy and gently told him, "Well thank you for trying to help Harry," the ones in the room who had thought it was a terrible idea glared at her, "but next time why don't you just talk to one of us instead? Doesn't that seem like a much nicer idea?"

Potter muttered a, "Sure, whatever." to her as Dumbledore began to speak.

"Well, if that is all then I believe that we should all be able to go home now. I am sorry for needing to call you unnecessarily," he gazed at Potter over his glasses, "and I hope you do get some pleasant sleep."

Everyone who had come from somewhere else got up almost immediately, the others living in the house following a few seconds behind. In all of the commotion there were people getting up from the house and not – the children wanting to go to bed just as much as the adults – and everyone was talking saying how it was terrible they were called for such a thing or how they weren't going to get to sleep and how they had to go to work in the morning.

Among two that didn't get up immediately, other than Potter and the old goat that it, were Snape and Moody. Alastor walked over to Potter first and muttered a "good job" for only Potter to hear (I had canine hearing, of course I could hear it); clearly he thought Potter was becoming more like his own crazy self. Then, right before he left the kitchen, I saw the dark glint in his eye that I had seen in Potter's eye earlier, before we had gotten called downstairs. Maybe they were both in on this prank.

Snape went over to Potter and put a hand on his shoulder in an almost condescending way. His hand was gripped hard as I could see from the especially white knuckles, and it looked as though he was almost actually trying to hurt Potter. It didn't seem to work as Potter stood up at this moment and Snape rose an eyebrow at the younger man.

"I thought it would be hilarious. And it was before I was forced down here and they started making ludicrous statements..." Ah. So Snape was curious as to the true nature of the prank; as he must have been able to guess it wasn't for the well being of anyone except perhaps himself.

"Next time I get called because of you, I will be a very unhappy man Potter. Don't do it again."

"Yes sir," Potter said with a salute, but his grin clearly said that he had no intention in following what his professor told him. Snape realized this and after letting go of the boy's shoulder he lightly hit him up the back side of his head. It seemed like an almost affectionate way, as if something they had done before, and no one else seemed to pay any notice.

That reminded me, I hadn't seen the old coot leave and yet as I looked around I could't see him. It might not have been the easiest thing; looking for someone when you are a young wolf, but I think I could have spotted that old man anywhere. He really stuck out from all crowds.

Soon enough Potter and Snape were the only two left in the room, as Dumbledore left it seemed no one else cared to stay – not that many had cared to stay because he was here. Molly and Arthur were among the last to be in the room; but as Potter was talking to the Potions Master it looked as though no one was willing to go up and talk to them.

As soon as they were alone, Snape asked, "What is with your little wolf friend Potter?"

The younger wizard walked over to where I was hiding behind the plant and picked me up. I have to say that while I liked having my feet on the ground, being in Potter's arms wasn't so bad – at least I was taller.

"I don't know what you mean Severus." Potter began stroking my back again and I just about melted. It was pure instinct though. Instinct I tell you!

The man was clearly perturbed at Potter using his first name but he let it slide, instead saying, "Why was it necessary for you to bring him down here to watch what was going on and why the hell couldn't you have just carried him in?"

I didn't understand why he was so worked up about this but then I suppose it was Snape and it really was not healthy to try and understand that man or his mind. It simply spelled bad things to even attempt it.

"I wanted him to watch the funny part with me. Everyone panicking? Hilarious. Everything else? Admittedly, not so much." Potter paused to do one especially long stroke from my head to the end of my tail and I shuddered in his arms. It was completely involuntary though, nothing I could do to stop it.

"And can you imagine everyone's face if I came walking in with Herrani in my arms? He has black fur, red eyes, sharp teeth and so on – he looks like a devil dog, I won't lie."

Snape simply shook his head; he had most likely already realized this and was just asking to confirm because it was both so stupid but made so much sense. The dark man muttered, "Fine. But next time don't make it me who has to let him in."

He walked out of the kitchen after that, thoroughly ending the conversation, as Potter continued to stroke me and I thought about what had happened. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened to the Savior of the light, but I liked this Potter much more. He was quick witted and dark but because of his status he knew when he needed to act like a proper teenager too.

And he was much more interesting than Wormtail or any of my Death Eaters.

Potter muttered, "That was funny, wasn't it? I told you it would be, for the most part anyway. Sorry you had to sit through all that, but you should know most meetings are like that."

Potter walked through the kitchen door way and I saw that the hall was empty and quiet as the wizard carrying my paused for a chuckle. Reaching the stairs he continued, "Or at least, the ones that I have been too. But perhaps that's more my fault than it is there's."

I he began to the climb the stairs again I once more dug my claws into his arm, as I did the first time and he chuckled again. I couldn't tell if it was because I was instinctually frightened he would drop me or if it was some other dark thing that he had lurking in his mind; but I sorely wish I could have known.

Because I wanted to figure out the labyrinth of riddles and conundrums that was Harry Potter.


	4. Chapter 4

After we were once again back in the quiet solitude of Potter's attic room, Potter spoke once again, "Tomorrow should be rather uneventful; be prepared for a long boring day ahead of you. Perhaps we'll go to the park."

He climbed back into his bed, seeing only by the light of the moon that filtered in through the window next to the bed. His blankets already pulled back from earlier when he jumped out of bed. The raven haired wizard did not delay in picking me off of the floor; and I was thankful as the floor was rather cold.

I furrowed under the covers as Potter pulled them up around his chest and he muttered a, "Goodnight."

With a very casual display of wandless magic Potter waved a hand and the curtains around the only window in the room covered it; and the only source of light in the room went out.

I could still see thanks to the wolf eyes that I had and the very minimal amount of light that snuck under the bedroom door and at the edges of the curtain. Regardless, I backed a little farther into the warmth, closed me eyes, and slept.

The next morning I woke up in Potter's bed, still underneath the covers, but this time I was alone on the mattress. The curtains on the window must have been opened, as there was now ample light in the room that I could see even through the dark blankets.

I could hear someone moving around in the room (I was completely incased within the blankets, every where I turned I saw only blanket or the sheets of the mattress) and I guessed that it could only be Potter.

I shook my way out of the blankets, coming out on the edge of the bed with the blankets still on my back. As I did this I heard a banging on the door that must have been accompanied earlier by a pounding on the stairs, but I was surly asleep for that; or else I would have heard it of course.

As I knew that no one was to know that I was here with Potter (or at least no one but Snape, who surely would be not so loud when knocking on the door; if he knocked at all of course) I backed up a little into the blankets once more, leaving a small gap for my eyes so I could see who it was.

Potter must have of course known that there was someone at the door; having definitely heard the walking up the stairs and of course the knocking on the door and after the instances of last night it would have surely been considered shady at the least for him to not answer. Most likely knowing this himself Potter did answer the door with an, "Open," and I think it was a great thought that no one could hear what was done in hear out there. The Parseltongue would have not only freaked out the others in the ouse but also make them sure of Potter's not quite so niceness.

Though Potter himself was normally very good at not showing how very dark he was. Maybe he was not quite about to join the dark side – something I was thinking of fixing for when I got back to my human body – but he was surely not exactly in the savior of the light mind. I was brought out of my thoughts as Potter's door opened and the person on the outside decided to burst in.

"Where is he?" Lupin asked, coming in quickly to Potter's room, seemingly caring very little for his privacy.

Potter put on a confused look though I could tell that he was not really, and said, "Where is who? Please specify when looking for a person."

"Not a person," Lupin muttered, "But a wolf. I said nothing last night because I knew that he was yours, but where is he now?"

"Sleeping," the younger wizard answered him, more serious now. "What do you want with him?"

Lupin shook his head at the bed where he must have smelled me and looked to Potter, "He simply smells none at all of a normal animal. He has a magic around him that animals shouldn't have."

"Well of course he does," Potter told him as if talking to a small child. He explained, "Herrani is of a special breed that is not only very rare, but where each of it is in it's own way unique."

It looked as though Lupin wanted to know where Potter had found this information, and indeed I did too. But acting like the Slytherin I was finding him out to be Potter was not about to give out information without absolutely needing to or being asked. Lupin must have realized this because he asked where it was that he had found this out.

"From a... Book." The edges of Potter's lips were very minimally quirked up at the sides, to where unless you were focusing only on his lips you wouldn't see it...

Lupin was very annoyed with Potter by this time and asked calmly with an underlying sense of anger and frustration, "Yes but where did you get the book? Be as specific as possible."

He took a step towards Potter which I think was meant to scare him, but Potter's demeanor was not to change and he seemed unaffected by it in any way. Potter now must have decided to be sarcastic and more snarky than secretive, because he said, (with a semi larger quirk in his lips), "The restricted section of the library, the eighteenth shelf on the right, third shelf down, sixth book from the left."

Lupin huffed out in frustration and I there was no way I could blame him – I would be as frustrated when talking to one such as Potter. "Was that specific enough for you?" he asked, and this was clearly only said to anger the werewolf more; not because he actually cared.

"Yes." the wolf ground out, "I just want to see the wolf, Harry."

I widened my eyes just a little. I was unsure of what I should do if I were to be placed (or pulled) into the other's hands. Potter I could deal with because I knew that he had no wish to hurt me while he could not tell who I was; but Lupin on the other hand might want to. I tried to think of why though; did he smell me and recognize my scent as Voldemort? If he had, would he not just have told Potter or taken me away?

Or maybe he thought that I was holding a power over Potter and making him do bad things; or maybe he thought that Potter knew who I was and was trying to protect me and keep me safe until I reached a point until I could turn back into a human.

That was such a hilariously bad scenario that I tried not to laugh as I thought of it – Potter was letting go of his morals of killing and perhaps reaching more of a gray area than the light one he was expected to be in; but he was by no means dark. At least, not at the moment – if I could help it then he will be soon.

"Well you can't," Potter told him blandly. The not so niceness of his voice was no longer hidden as it was before, and from the look on Lupin's face he looked as though the voice had bit him. So he certainly was not able to tell that Potter was not exactly as light as he seemed, as angry as the boy might make him feel. "He is sleeping and even if he were awake I would not allow you to hold him."

"Why not?" Lupin asked rather childishly. "Is it because he reacts badly to others holding him? He's a wold and I'm a werewolf. We tend to get along better than wolves and humans."

"Except those few instances when either the wolf or the werewolf is very territorial or not happy to be in the other's presence. Herrani does not like others of his own kind and most likely yours, if I were to wager a guess. He believes that this room is his territory and I am sure that if you were to awaken him he would only growl at you and possibly try to bite you."

At least now I knew what I was meant to do if I were to be 'awakened', as Potter put it. Growl and try to bite the werewolf. Oh how I would not mind doing that to a man that had thrown quite a few of his own spells into my work. Not as many as Potter of course, the only person that could best him when it came to the scale of those who have messed up my plans the only person to best him would be the old goat himself.

"Then he is clearly a danger Harry and you should remove him from the house. Who knows who he could bite? Ginny, or Molly or any of the other Order members and children that walk around here. I am confused though – if he is so hostile then why does he like you?"

So he was going for the guilt technique and also trying to get Potter to talk more of where I came from then what he told Snape, not that Lupin should know what Potter told the spy. I wondered exactly what Potter was going to tell him, as our meeting was none at all violent and as I came in only the other day there was no way that I could have been injured and had him save me.

"I am unsure of this, to be frank." Potter told him. "Perhaps he simply likes me because I gave him some food yesterday when we met outside or perhaps he was happy to see someone act kindly to him. Many underestimate an animal's capability for complex thought, but he is of a very special breed and of his personal competence for understanding things I am sure of."

Lupin's brows furrowed together for a moment before he tried to summarize what Potter had just said, and I could understand as I found myself thinking that Potter had just talked a circle around his answer without actually giving one.

"So what you are saying is that his breed – the kind you read of in the library at Hogwarts – has a speciality in understanding things on a more human mind complex level than other animals and breeds? And that he specifically is very good at doing so?"

Potter rolled his eyes, saying, "Of course I said that. Did you not hear me the first time?"

Lupin just looked at Potter and there was still confusion in his eyes, however it seemed as if Lupin was past caring now though – about the fact that Potter was acting very unpleasant to him; not at all in the way the son of his best friend and the godson of his other best friend would act.

"Perhaps not Harry." it seemed as though all of Lupin's years came down on him at once and he suddenly sounded so much older, more weary and wistful. Potter seemed uncaring for the sudden change of Lupin, but I was more cautious. There was something going on here that I could not know and I did not like it.

"You don't sound do good Remus. I think you should go downstairs, maybe eat something." Potter suggested. So at least I knew that he could tell there was a change in Lupin. The werewolf nodded to the boy, as he was being lead to the door by Potter.

"Yes, yes. I feel very... Reminiscent suddenly. I-" he stopped suddenly as if he couldn't think of something to say. I was actually almost worrying for the wolf because it seemed like something very serious was happening to him. Potter still seemed not to care or really take in that anything out of the ordinary was happening, so I thought that surely nothing bad could be happening.

"Maybe this is because you are in Sirius' house. You were his best friend." Potter said, none to subtle.

"Maybe..." Lupin trailed off as Potter only half gently pushed him out the door and closed it in his face. Potter waited for the footsteps going down the stairs before he turned to the bed and looked at where I was hiding, taking a few steps and standing in front of where I was.

"So you are awake? I certainly thought you were, but there was no way for me to be completely sure." Potter told me, pushing the blanket off of me and picking me up from the bed. He put me onto his lap and started to stroke my fur. "It's quite late you know. Lupin would have come up sooner but he had to calm Molly down after last night and like the rest in the house and yourself was very tired. I did not sleep, but you seemed to go to sleep as soon as you got into bed."

I had to admit that I had, and I had had a very good sleep as well. No dreams or nightmares from my past, and no disturbances from Death Eaters or Wormtail. It was much better sleep than I had had in a while. That the others slept in was not something I was surprised about; that Potter did not go to sleep at all, however, was.

I was curious as to what Potter had been doing, but also what time it was. It had to still be day outside – the sun was still out. I looked to the window to make sure, but there was really no need. It was easy to tell since the sunlight came pouring in from the window.

"Ah, so you still think it is early day. I can't blame you. The window is enchanted. I can make it show what it really is outside but when I need the light I charm it to show sunlight. Right now it's four something, four forty five maybe. I know I said we would go outside but we shall have to wait until tomorrow to do that. It is already quite late as I mentioned and I doubt that we would be allowed outside..." Potter trailed off as he smiled out right, and I got to see his mischievous grin once more.

"I suppose we could always sneak out... But it is a bad idea; after what happened last night. I suppose it would be best to try and regain some of their trust before I try to sneak out and destroy it all by giving them more heart attacks..." Potter chuckled darkly once more and I found myself analyzing the sound before he stopped abruptly, a noise starting downstairs.

It sounded as if there was someone talking, or sobbing more like; and there were others that were trying to comfort the crying person. We were too far up and the floors and distance muffled the voices to much for me to work out what was being said or who was saying it; but it certainly seemed as if nothing good was going on down there.

"I believe that Remus has started crying. He never was strong when it came to Sirius' death."

I looked at him as if to say that he hadn't been strong when it came to his godfather's death, and it seemed to me as if Potter could understand me. This was something that I was getting used to, it seemed, Potter understanding me even though I was a wolf and not capable of saying anything.

"What? I am over what happened to Sirius, I understand that it was no one's fault and that there is no point in mourning him as it will do nothing to bring him back. I have made peace with that inner demon. As for Remus... I suppose it is more of my fault that he is breaking down in front of everyone..."

I barked at him in annoyance and Potter chuckled once more, rubbing his hand over my nose in a pleasing way. I was wondering why this felt so good but I blamed it also on instincts, not on the fact that I made Potter chuckle.

"Impatient are you? I can't blame you for being so. So I used a little mind magic to very subtly make him feel sad; his mind was confused about why he was feeling sad but accepted it. As I was leading him out the door I mentioned Sirius and his mind jumped at the chance to blame the sudden feeling on something... Now don't look at me like that! I know it's dark magic. Ish. But I learned it last night and wanted to try it..."

So that answered the question of what Potter had been doing last night while I was asleep. But to think it was darkish? Mind magic was by no means the darkest of all the magics.

There was blood magic and some rituals that even I dared not to try that were far worse than the mind magic that Potter had used, but mind magic itself was labelled very dark.

This was because mind magic as not only very dangerous to both the user and the person or thing that it was being used on, but it was also used against another person's will.

What Potter had done to Lupin was against his will and if Potter had done t correctly (which he seemed to have), then there was no way that Lupin could have stopped Potter.  
There was only one exception to this and that was Occulumency. But that was very hard to learn and you had to have a natural affinity for it from the beginning or you will never actually become skilled. It was originally created to help stop showing emotion and the like so that one could spy more easily – it was naturally created by a Slytherin – and it was later discovered that some one who was very good at it could stop someone using Legillmency on them.

The specific kind that Potter had used was called Tobies' Emotions. He was a man that had great control over his own emotion and of course an affinity for mind magic as one has to have to have such great control over themselves.

He wanted so badly to control other's emotions as well as his own, so he slipped into test subjects' minds and eventually learned how to without making a scene out of it. He had started with animals as many inventors and testers do, starting with a rat and building up on the size of his mammal test subject until he started using humans; which was when his problems started.

Anyway, what he had done was highly illegal and all of his findings were in his own text books and journals; Tobies was a very private man with no family and when he grew old before he died he hid his journals in his home. I wondered how Potter could have possibly found them; when in my youth I personally looked for clues as to where the books could have been hidden but I had no luck.

It aggravated me that Potter was capable of finding them at this age when I could not find them at the age of twenty two, but I would only have to accept the fact that times had changed and Potter most likely had more connections than I did back then. I would have to get him to show me the books when I became human again.

"Don't look at me like that," Potter said, as I looked at him in a strange way. In my defense, I was looking at him so strangely because his darkness which he had hid so expertly from everyone, seemed larger than what I thought it was going to be. "So it's not only darkish, but what else could I do? I was bored. You were sleeping."

That was another thing that astounded me about Potter. He seemed to have only begun reading about the certain subject of the mind the night before while I had been sleeping, and yet he performed it so expertly on the werewolf. This told me that Potter was very skilled in the ways of mind magic; but I knew from Snape that – wait. Snape was a spy, so it's possible he was lying to me...

I decided to simply forget everything that I hadn't learned about Potter in the past day or so. Clearly I was wrong in the ways that I perceived him – or, at least, Potter had changed and now everything that I would expect of him is wrong. Not that I could forget everything I had come to expect of him; but I could stop trying to expect things from him.

And so I did.

I tried to look at Potter as if I wanted to know where he got the book. I was unsure if it would actually work – I had certainly never seen an animal that was capable of making a look like that. However it seemed to me as though Potter had a kind of talent for this kind of thing, so I was hopeful.

As Potter was about to begin speaking I remembered his owl, Hedwig, I think her name was. I never saw her personally but when I could see into Potter's mind and was taking over him I saw her in his memories. She was a beautiful owl, I had to admit, and what never seemed real to me was that Potter seemed to always understand her.

Now that I thought about it, Potter always seemed to understand animals that he had a little contact with; and not just snakes which he could talk to thanks to myself. Each instance in which I saw him 'talking' to an animal it was through his memories, but it still seemed a little unreal to me. There was of course his owl, the blasted bird of the headmaster's, he understood what that terrible three headed dog was thinking, and even though the basilisk that I kept in the Chamber wouldn't speak to him Potter somehow managed to know what it was feeling.

This was yet another thing that I would have to try to get Potter to show me, not because I wished to speak to animals (the only animals I cared to talk to were snakes and a certain rat; but the rat could turn into a human), but simply because I wished to understand something that confounded me.

Anyway, as Potter knew what I had been thinking before he answered my unspoken question, saying, "I found how to do it in a book."

I stared at Potter trying to get through to him that I would not like him trying to play me like the Slytherin he seemed to be in the same way that he played Lupin only a few minutes earlier when he was up here. Potter, as always, understood.

"Fine." Potter smiled, showing he was feeling smug at annoying me, "I found it in a book written by a person with the last name of Tobies."

I simply huffed in the only way that a wolf can, and it really only included me leting out a quick, fast, and large breath. I felt like I was a little deflated afterwards and Potter laughed. He was not chuckling in the way that I had seen him do so both quietly and darkly before hand, the raven haired wizard that held me on his lap was properly laughing.

He had his head thrown back in laughter as his mouth opened and let out a deep, smooth and mellow sound. I found myself paying attention to the sound of his laughter; one much different than his chuckle which was short and sharp. I noticed that when he was laughing the slight worry lines – that I only now noticed were somewhat crafted into his forehead – on his face disappeared. Laughing made him look younger.

This is what made me remember that Potter wasn't old, by any means. Sure, he was not a child by any means either; definitely not. He was not under the age of ten years nor was he annoying and immature. Do not understand my incorrectly; I was not saying Potter was a child (though compared to one so old, such as myself or the goat then he would be considered a mere child).

It was just that with the way Potter handled himself and others around him; the way that he understood the people around him and the way that he talked and treated them – in a very Slytherin manner, that it – could make one forget exactly how many years he had seen.

Even before 'The Switch' as I think I shall call it from now on (the switch being when he became more Slytherin than Gryffindor and stopped being a little Golden Boy), Potter was never really all that naïve.

Perhaps he was as a younger child when I met him in his first year; but even at that point he had seen the meaner part of both the wizarding world and the muggle one – wizards were being greedy and trying to take his fame while the muggles that he grew up with were atrocious!

He was a young teenager, nearly sixteen years of age; that was by no means old. He was a simple teenager, he should have been thinking about what his grades on his OWL's were; and what classes he was going to take this year; and what he wanted to be when he was older; and for a teenager like Potter (one that wasn't a Ravenclaw or quiet Slytherin that loved to study a little too much), he should have been thinking about girls and a crush (or a boy, I would be hypocritical to discriminate).

I personally wasn't into such things as other people, but I was a quiet Slytherin that liked studying just a tad bit too much, not to mention I was a very strange child and I grew up to be the Dark Lord.

But then Potter has been the Savior for all of the life that he can remember; so I suppose he would be a special case like me. I simply could not help but be a little astounded at how old he was when I thought about the way he conducted himself around others and alone; and the way he looked whenever he was thinking about something.

Or the way he looked most of the time anyway... It was captivating...

Anyway, Potter was speaking again having noticed my so called wolf huff, "Okay, okay. I found Tobies' work when I was studying Occulumency. I was reading about general mind magic and the thought of what he did intrigued me, so I looked it up."

He resettled me on his lap because while he was laughing I got a little shuffled about and I sat in an awkward position. I guess what he said made sense. He began stroking my back and it was more difficult for me to pay attention as the sensation felt so good.

"I found where Tobies supposedly lived. It was a town near where I live with my relatives, somewhere near Surrey. I don't remember exactly where now."

He continued to rub a hand down my back so I was just hoping that he wouldn't stop. I mean, of course I wanted him to stop. It was just that my instincts told me that it felt nice; and that because it felt nice I should probably want more of it to happen. But I didn't. Because this is Potter.

"So this summer before I was brought to Grimmauld I went to check it out. There wasn't really much to look at; just an old rickety wooden house that the muggles thought was haunted. I snuck inside and didn't really see anything. It was just a normal house that had fallen into disrepair." he sighed as he remembered it, as if there was something about the house that he missed. Perhaps the solitude.

The young wizard stopped stroking my back and instead started playing with my paws. It was a strange feeling, not necessarily a bad one. It just felt like I should not be letting him tough something as sensitive as the tops of my paws, so I had the urging to pull my paws back and make him stop. I would compare it to having some one tickle your feet, but I have never personally had someone do that to me.

"After I had checked extensively I was about to leave when I heard a noise outside. It was night time when I snuck in, but it was proper midnight by the time I was leaving; so there was no end to the possibilities of what the noise could have been made by. My curiosity made me go look at what it was, and I was happy about it afterwards." Potter's eyes shined as he looked above me, probably thinking about other times where his damn curiosity got him into trouble instead.

He continued, looking back at me, "It was a small band of muggle boys. They were walking on this little patch of land that looked relatively well kept compared to the rest of the land. It was strange because there was small, three by four meter patch of ground that had bright green grass, and everything around it was a dark brown color. One was saying how the land was enchanted and that there was a secret cavern underneath it. They were attempting to dig through the ground, but they gave up shortly and left. I think two of them were drunk and the one who suggested digging a little tipsy, at least."

Stupid muggles. I would never like them.

"But it gave me an idea." Potter grinned as if he knew what I had just been thinking, "and I had to thank the muggles for it. The patch of grassland they were talking about I had seen earlier, but I was used to these odd things. But what if the muggles were right? There's no way they could have known that they were correct – they were muggles, but they could still have had the right idea. So I cast some spells on the land and voila, it opened up!"

So maybe muggles could be useful. I listened carefully to what Potter talked about next. I did not remember such a small patch of well kept grass. But then, when I was there and looking around all the grass was kept clean and fresh by the people living in a nearby village, they had been payed to do so for an amount of years I couldn't remember. They must have run out their years and stopped doing it.

"It seemed as though that little patch of ground had been a metal basement door, and the grass that was covering it was magic. Since magic can never exactly imitate life; the grass did not need water or anything else and did not wilt in the way the rest of the grass did. So when the grass became unkept around it that small patch lay left untouched. I made sure there were no muggles around that were watching me before going down into basement, casting a muggle repellant ward around the door."

Here Potter paused for what seemed and unnecessary amount of time. He took a deep breath before continuing, as if whatever he had seen scarred him.

"There were dead bodies everywhere. Merlin, I can still smell it now. It's one of those things that sticks with you, you know? They were stacked up in the corners, some were chained to walls; others were spread out across tables and some had been dissected and laid out in certain ways. There were charts and diagrams on the human brain and how it was wired and the like everywhere, for reference. The placed looked like a crazy man's house."

He shook his head, closing his eyes, before continuing his story, "I suppose that in a way it was. Tobies had to have been insane to want to control other's emotions in such a way. He studied down there – it, it was his laboratory and his study. I can't say that death sickens me, but the way that he conducted some of his experiments – I can say that even Lord Voldemort would be disgusted by it." He looked at me in a way that almost made me panic.

He almost had me thinking that he could see through the animal of my body and see that I was actually the Dark Lord, but of course, no matter how well he seemed to understand what I wanted to say there was no way that he could actually know I was his parents' murderer.

Potter continued after a second, looking away, "His books were down there on what I guess must have been his desk. I don't know why I had never thought about that when I was going through his house – I knew that he often did these studies, and it would make sense that his texts were in his study. But I saw nothing of the type in his house. His house, other than being old and let go, was a very normal house and wouldn't be a bad place to live it was cleaned out."

Looking once more at me he finished, "I took the books and left. I had no interest in anything else that was there, and I have no plan on going back to that place if I can help it. I of course still have the books. It is interesting though, what he wrote. Some of it is gory – the accounts of his tests and experiments, anyway, but the information that he wrote down is a very different way of looking at things."

It looked as though he was about to say something else to me when there was a brief pounding on stairs and I was brought back to reality. It seemed that while Potter was talking I felt as though I had been transported to where Potter was talking about, almost as though I was looking through his eyes and into his memories of what had happened.

And yet when I was doing so I did not lose touch with the closest reality – that of Potter and myself, him playing with my fur and paws and the way that his faced look as he described these things. Or the way that I felt when he was playing with my fur or paws.

The short trampling on the stairs did allow me to see the full reality though, the one that included the room we were sitting in and the people that were all moving around in the rooms below us.

The footsteps on the stairs did not continue all the way to the door, so whoever it was stopped either on the third floor or in between the third floor and the attic landing. I was happy about this because I did not feel like dealing with any body, especially not a Weasley (who I felt it was most likely to be).

Potter's head snapped up when the noise was made and it seemed as though he too was temporarily distracted by the little story telling adventure that we had had. He waited for the person to shout, "Harry!" before pushing me off his lap and onto the bed.

Standing up he walked to the door and cast a spell on it which I am guessing made it not soundproof so whoever was on the other side would hear him yell, "What?!"

The person, who I am guessing was Ginevra (a Weasley, I was correct), walked up another step and shouted, "Time for dinner Harry! Mum says you have to come down and eat!"

"Fine!" Potter yelled back, "I'll be down in a few minutes!" he looked back at me as there was some softer and slower pounding going down the stairs. "I was going to say that after reading what he wrote I can conclude that Tobies was insane, but I suppose all the best people are."

He looked back to the door and cast the spell on it so that it was soundproof once more as he muttered, "Why does she think that saying Molly wants me to come down will make me come down? They can't make me do anything, a threat like that won't help them if I really didn't want to do something. Or if the consequences didn't outweigh the torture of going."

I did a little wolf chuckle in respond to show that I agreed and Potter gave me a quick smile before opening the door and leaving. After obviously closing the door I heard him softly walking down the stairs, and I thought about how true it was.

I decided to take a nap because Potter most likely would be back in not a short amount of time, and because the transformation had taken a lot out of me and I was still quite tired, no matter how much I had slept last night.

The only thing that I was thinking about as I went to sleep was that the idea of Potter needing to go downstairs and spend some time with those gingers and the werewolf and possibly Snape instead of me was something that I disliked greatly. With that thought on my mind, I succumbed to sleep and dreamed...


	5. Chapter 5

I instantly knew I was dreaming. It had been a long time since I had ever had a dream so I was surprised (though only slightly because as a Dark Lord I only allowed myself to be surprised little, and Potter was taking up what little amount I was to be surprised) to find myself doing so.

Perhaps I should have not been quite so surprised. What with Potter and everything he had been saying and talking of to me everything seemed to be going out of wack, so I could simply blame the blasted so called Golden Boy.

Sounded goon enough for me. I had a long history of blaming things on Potter.

Anyway, my dream was not entirely surprising, or at least not as much as the initial surprise of my dreaming in the first place, as I have mentioned. I was sitting in an open field that was surrounded my dark green evergreen trees that were extremely tall and thus old.

The field itself had equally dark green grass covering it that was long and untamed, showing that it had perhaps never been cut or touched by a human. Well, until now.

I was still in my wolf form and not the human referred to in the sentence above. Instead, I was speaking of the Potter that was stretched out on the ground. He was lying on his back with his head resting on his arms that were folded behind his head. His legs stretched out straight he created a near star like shape in the grass (his arms of course weren't stretched out).

Potter was wearing muggle jeans that were faded and somewhat ripped in the knee, and he wore them well. His shirt was a dark red that showed up in great contrast to the grass he was lying on, his black hair a mess that mixed in with the grass and would no doubt have some of its blades stuck in it when he sat up.

His eyes were closed and a light smile caressed his face. There was a bright sun that shined down on the entire field and caught on Potter's glasses, making them glint, and I looked up to see nothing but indeed, an open sky. Not a cloud to be seen from this point of view.

As mentioned above, I was still in wolf form, so that it seemed even in my dreams I could not yet be a human. I looked about the same as I did I the waking world, though my fur seemed a little lighter, almost like a dark brown instead of black that was most likely because of the sun that shone. Whatever else, the sun gave warmth, a kind I had not felt for a long time.

Instead of trying to think about what this dream was meant to mean to me and what it was meant to try and explain to me as thoughts from my subconscious mind that was trying to get into my conscious one, I decided to simply do as Potter was doing. I spread out on my stomach next to him in the way wolves did naturally.

My legs underneath me and my tail wrapped around myself I did not snuggle into Potter's side but I did lie down next to it because I knew that Potter would protect me if something were to happen in this dream; but that he would not hurt me if he were to wake and everything else were to be peaceful.

I closed my eyes and wondered if it really was entirely possible to fall asleep in a dream and if falling asleep twice would cancel each other out and make myself wake up. And if you could fall asleep in a dream and considering you also would not wake up were you to fall asleep, was it possible to have a dream in a dream? Would I wake up from one dream only to find myself back in this current one, and then be forced to wake up from that one and then finally be awake?

It seemed and interesting idea to me, in the least. I thought to give it a good shot to see if it was possible or not or if it would even be possible for me to get to sleep in this dream. Normally it was very difficult for me to fall asleep next to another but I think that Potter was different. No reason why, of course not, but simply that he was an exception.

It actually seemed to me that Potter was an exception to many, many things; more than just that of my sleeping capabilities around other people (he actually seemed to tire me more with all of his talking) and also having survived an Avada Kedavra and being able to weasel his way out of my hands each and every year.

I felt as though I was very close in finally slipping into a double sleep when I was stirred by an outside force. Opening my eyes and preparing to glare at whatever it was that had decided to keep me from experimenting my ideas, I saw that it was Potter that was next to me and appearing to wake up.

"Well hello there," Potter muttered to him as he sat up, crossing his legs instead of leaving them stretched out. I was indeed correct in my earlier assessment and I could see multiple blades of grass that had weaved there way into Potter's sleek black rat's nest that he called hair.

I grunted and stood up as I knew I would not being getting any double sleep in this dream. Potter immediately ran a hand through my hair that had somehow seemed to be capable of also getting blades of grass stuck through it. I moved my head into Potter's hand to get him to run his hand through my fur again.

Just to clarify to any who may have doubts or do not understand that I do not like Potter. I was not getting him to pet me because I enjoyed having Potter run his hands over me, I did so because it was within my instincts to want him to. I hope that is clear to you now.

"Don't worry," Potter told me as if he thought that there was something to worry about, and as if he thought that I had also been worrying about this hypothetical thing. I looked up at Potter to try and get him to explain.

"Ah," Potter muttered, picking me up and putting me in his lap (again: I did not like it!), "you seem to have already begun to not care nor worry about it? A strange predicament. Perhaps it is my fault?..."

I still had no idea what he was talking of that I seemed to have forgotten about that he was apparently attempting to blame upon himself. I only continued to look at him with what I would guess was a blank look or as much as I could muster of one on a wolf; and as always Potter seemed to understand and then some.

"But of course you don't remember! How can you understand?" his hands were running through my fur again and I noticed how his voice was soft; the way his voice had been when he first 'found' me in the forest, as if speaking to a frightened feral animal that might attack at any moment.

He also seemed to enjoy trailing off instead of actually answering my questions; his mind was distracted, though by what I could begin to imagine things that were most likely far off. He looked down at me once more, "You're predicament, as I am sure you are wondering. That you are not human, of course."

Of course, that I am not human. How could I forget that? Maybe I was already getting used to being in a wolf form that I simply had learned to not care, or that I realized there was no way I could be changed back any time soon and thusly no reason yo dwell on the fact that I was not my human, Lord Voldemort self.

Wait... Potter was saying how I was not human. Potter. No one was to know that I was not myself and that the wolf form I currently worse was not the one I normally inhabited, so how had Potter found out? If he knew I was human did he know of the fact that I was also the man who had killed his parents?

I had to think that no, he had no idea exactly who I was because surely, who would hold in his lap and pet and comfort the man that had murdered his parents and many others; not to mention having also attempted murder of the person themselves (multiple times, mind you)? Then again, perhaps I had already answered this question myself.

Potter seemed to be the type that was the exception to everything as I was mulling over earlier, so would it not make a lot of sense if for whatever reason he knew of who I was and that I was indeed not really a wolf? Though he had been protecting me from others and also taking care of me, this seemed to be the type of thing that Potter enjoyed doing; the unexpected that is.

Potter must have been able to see the emotions fly across my face as I worked this out because he said, as I finally came to the conclusion that Potter knew but had very little care for the fact of who I was, "Indeed, I knew. I would have had to been an idiot to not do so. Don't worry, no one else knows, only me. Don't worry about anything Tom. I shall take care of it all."  
I was a little surprised at the usage of my real first name but with Potter I knew there was no help for it. It was probably the old goat that had told him, though it did make me wonder exactly what else the old goat might have told him.  
The only thing about this was that during this talk I seemed to have, in my being caught up with the fact of Potter apparently knowing that I was also Lord Voldemort, I must have forgotten that this was but a dream. Whatever else, the raven haired wizard whose hands felt great on my back when mixed with the sunshine did not know that I was also Lord Voldemort.

It was only a dream in which Potter of course knew that I was Voldemort because a dream is the making up of images or a movie like thing that takes place in your head with the information you have on subjects. As I knew I was Voldemort (I would be frightened if I had not known this fact) it began possible for Potter to know it since he was a figment of my imagination, in this scene anyway.

"Or this is what you like to think you know," Potter muttered, looking off into something behind me. I could tell if he was talking to me not so well, but if he was that would make sense, I suppose. Did I really know that Potter knew nothing of where I had come before he found me? No, though I certainly hoped he didn't.

Then again, maybe I did want Potter to know. Snape was not a person I could count on to help me as I had been thinking at the beginning when this first happened, now that there was no help from his excellent potions, what was I to do? Lucius would have no reason to be in the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters, and if he for whatever reason did then he would be of no use to me anyway.

Potter could be, perhaps, my last chance to get out and to be turned back into human. This made me feel uncomfortable in a way that I had never felt before, or if I had it was a feeling that I had gotten rid of a long time ago to be forgotten for a long time, as it was definitely not a feeling I enjoyed.

It was a feeling that told me I was depending on another person. And that I was not simply depending on this person to do this one task for me in a way that I depended on Lucius or another Death Eater when I send them out to do things so that I did not have to.

It was the feeling that told me that I depended on another person solely and completely, where with out this one person the future for me looked not at all well for me. Potter was the person taking care of me and I was sure I could not take care of myself with no magic as a wolf, so that was important. Were something to happen to Potter who would look after me? One of the Weasleys? I shuddered to think of it.

It did me no good to try and ponder on these things, that was one thing that I knew I could be entirely sure of. Whether or not something happened to Potter I could do little to stop it and if Potter knew of me then I don't think that held anything bad for me. There was nothing that would have shown him I was Voldemort since he first found me; which showed if he knew than he knew when he first took me in.

And when you analyzed that Dumbledore had not taken me and that Potter had not willfully given me to him, that and that when Potter had been speaking of the old coot his contempt for him was real (of that I am certain), Potter would not turn me in to the headmaster.

Nor would he give me to another, as shown by the altercation with Lupin.

In fact he seemed to enjoy talking to me but despised talking to all others except Snape, who also had not seemed to known of me and if he did did not seem to care. Though with him my thoughts were leaning more towards the former, not the latter as it was with Potter.

This made me believe that, overall, Potter would not be the one to out me to the rest of the Order and that all he would do for me was look after me; a good thing as I had already come to the fact that in my current state there was no way I could possibly look after myself. Getting to where I was at this point was in itself only luck and good timing.

I was rustled as dream-Potter moved around in my dream.

"Time for me to go," the wizard told me, leaning down to kiss the fur on my head. And no, I did not like it. As I know there are some that probably think I did like it, but I shall inform you again, that no, I of course did not. Potter started to shake underneath me even though it seemed as though he was not moving any more than he had been.

In fact, as I looked around it seemed as though everything but my wolf self was shaking and that it was all beginning to both lose its distinction. The trees blurred into tall dark brown and green splotches, the sun seemed to become a simple overhead yellow bright color, and the ground beneath Potter and I was now a dark green smudge that was nearly indistinguishable from the trees.

Potter seemed to become himself blurred, but in a different way than the trees and the rest of the scenery around us. Instead of becoming simply colors that mixed in with each other Potter was fading and becoming dimmer while everything else seemed to become brighter.

The greens became more and with a heightening brightness they were calling for my attention more and more; accompanied with the yellow and dark brown that also did the same it was hard to focus on Potter.

And he faded away entirely.

Or at least he did until I finally opened my eyes where everything was white for a few seconds. I could see why things were seeming to get brighter in my dreams, it was most likely because the brightness in the room was getting brighter and brighter as the sun was rising. Or Potter was 'turning on' the light in the room; which he had earlier explained meant he was making the window show a bright sunny day instead of a moon or overcast day.

Slowly the whiteness in the room began to leave as my sensitive eyes began to get adjusted to the change in the lighting of the room. I looked around and saw that, of course, Potter was back in the room. He was wearing a pair of black jeans and a worn out green shirt that was faded and looked as though it had been washed too many times.

"Good morning Sunshine!" Potter said to me, in a chirpy voice that was far to happy to be waking up the Darkest lord in a century. "How are you today Herrani? It's about four in the morning!"

I growled, he woke me up at four in the morning?! Why?! What would compel him to do something like that? Potter laughed at me as I growled and I stopped growling so that the only noise in the room was that of Potter's laughter. The wizard shook his head at me as he continued to change the brightness in the room until the window showed night time.

I took that to mean Potter was going to sleep and I tucked myself back into my self in the way that I had attempted to go to sleep in my dream. I realized however, as I heard him bound towards me in an overly happy manner, that my attempt to sleep was going to be stopped in the waking world the same way it was in the sleeping one: by Potter.

"Come on! I planned for us to go outside, remember?!" Potter picked me up and put me on his lap as his legs were over the side of the bed and his feet were resting on the floor. "We need to leave before anyone wakes up and as it is so early if they wake up to hear a small sound they will most likely say they are imagining it and go back to sleep."

At least the wizard made sense in what he was doing. It didn't make anything better for me though as I attempted to wake myself up. I was perhaps a little too focused on the hands that Potter had on my paws that he were using to try and shake me awake lightly. I was paying so much attention to them because I was tired and it was hard for me to think of anything else. No other reason.

Potter's eyes lit up and this showed to me he had an idea; when combined with that wicked smile that was gracing the boy's face it made me fear – though only slightly – that Potter was going to do something to me that I most certainly would not like. And I was to be proven correct as, with a simple flick of his empty hand and wrist, I was suddenly drenched with what was freezing water.

My eyes widened as the cold set into my fur and I began shivering. How could he! How could he do that to ME?! The DARK LORD?! Oh, wait, he wasn't meant to know that... And even if he did, this was Potter; I knew rationally it would change nothing if he did or if he did not know. With an anger wracked brain, however, I was not thinking quite rationally.

I growled, loudly. Potter laughed at me and this only managed to anger me more. I tensed my muscles and jumped onto Potter with my front paws on his chest, which made the wizard fall back onto his bed with me lying on top of his chest. I didn't take a second to think of the position we were in while I was angry at Potter, instead choosing to think of how he angered me.

I scratched at Potter's shirt and left a few rips in it, but it I was soon picked up and held at a distance to where I could no longer scratch the wizard. I attempted biting his hands and arms but my head would not wrap around far enough to get to them, and this entire I was growling; Potter would not stop his infernal laughter which before struck a great interest in me, far greater than I knew it should.

"Aw, come on Herrani. You're awake now, aren't you?" Potter chuckled, and I could feel my anger melting away as I listened to him talk. He still annoyed me greatly, but getting angry would help nothing; this was perhaps the fastest my anger had ever dissipated ever.

I growled at him still but stopped trying to scratch and bite him, and Potter smiled at me, saying, "Now, are you ready to go outside or what?'

I wriggled out of his hands and jumped from his lap onto the floor, where I shook out my pelt and began grooming it. This was something I did not want to do; however something in my brain was telling me that I definitely wanted and needed to or I would remain uncomfortable for some time. Probably because having a soaking wet cold pelt as a wolf that would normally live in a very cold area is never a good idea. Stupid instincts.

"Yeah, I guess you aren't that great all cold and wet are you?" Potter asked, mostly to himself. I just gave him a look which I am sure that even as a wold was easily known to show: What do you think? The raven haired wizard flicked his hand towards me once again and I tensed, not knowing what he was doing this time.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself warm and dry afterwards; or relatively warm. While my fur was no longer wet nor stuck to my skin I was not so warm as I was when sleeping on the bed. I suppose one can not have everything. I stood up and shook my pelt once more as it was a strange feeling to have the magic run through my fur the way it had to dry it.

Potter laughed at my antics once more and picked me up again, holding me against his warm chest; where I could hear his heart beat and shook slightly with him as he laughed. The wizard ran a hand through my pelt and rubbed the spot between my ears, where I began becoming warmer through out my body once more.

"I suppose I can carry you," Potter chuckled to himself, "don't want you making too much noise." I began to growl back at him, but realized that he was saying it specifically to make me make more loud noise so he could laugh at me more. As I realized this I stopped making noise at all.

Apparently Potter knew what I was doing but for once he did not laugh or comment on it at all. He was walking downstairs and past the third floor landing, now going down to where the danger was greatest – the floor with the bedrooms on it that held sleeping Weasleys among some others.

The wizard who was carrying me took careful care to hold me in a way that I did not feel I would fall into the ground that gave me no extra reason to yelp. However, this did not stop me from digging my claws into Potter as it hadn't before when we were climbing the stairs after the Order meeting.

Soon we were on the ground floor and Potter was heading out the front door and closing it behind him. This surprised me; for while there was no way I had wanted to get caught by anyone or wanted it to be any more difficult for us to leave I thought that for certain something bad was going to happen.

Potter raised an eyebrow at me as he was walking down the front stairs to Grimmauld place and began to go in the direction of the park where we had met in the first place. "I do this a lot," he muttered, and I knew what he was speaking of.

That he sneaked out a lot of the place that was meant to be keeping him inside for his own protection showed me that Potter cared very little for his so called protection, that or he knew some how that nothing was going to hurt him.

It also showed that Potter would rather risk his life or risk seeing someone that wanted to hurt him than be in a house filled with people that he despised.

I was not sure if Potter himself had seen this, but it became blatantly obvious to myself as we were heading towards the park; and this told me that it had most likely come to Potter if it had me.

Dumbledore would do just about anything to keep his perfect weapon, as I am sure he could set up such guards to keep Potter from leaving as I was sure that he knew about it. Potter had to go back to the HQ at some point, and that was when he was going to get caught.

Like when he came back with me that first night, when Molly was shouting at him and digging into him for not coming back earlier and for leaving without saying anything. What Snape had said at that point made sense to me now, when he told the matriarch of the Weasleys to leave Potter alone because of what happened when he 'was cooped up'.

Apparently the old coot must have tried to get Potter to stay inside and Potter had done something that no one had liked because Dumbledore had gone back on what he did (obviously) and I remembered watching Molly blush as Snape had told her to leave the boy alone.

I was snapped out of my thoughts quickly as I was placed into a lap and moved and shook around for a few seconds. I looked up at Potter to see that he had sat down in a swing. I looked once more around the park, and it seemed so empty and desolate as Potter and I were the only ones in it.

"I know this isn't really all that great," Potter told him, swinging a little while having his feet still on the ground. He continued, "I promise we can go out an do something later. Maybe go into Knockturn Alley?"

I should perhaps have been surprised that he was saying that we could go into the dark alley; something he said with confidence that showed he did it multiple times and knew that no one would find out about it and that if they did they wouldn't care or be able to do anything about it.

However this did not surprise me as this was Potter and he had surprised me so much lately that I was starting to just not become surprised by these things; instead more so just taking them in stride. Though I wondered what exactly Potter got when in the Alley, what could he possibly need?

"What would we get in Knockturn Alley... Good question." Potter said, breaking my thoughts once more; and this did scare me a little. How did he know the moment I thought-? I realized that my feelings were showing on my wolfie face and that Potter was able to read faces so well (apparently).

"Well," Potter started, looking off above my head, "I could get some potions ingredients. I have been thinking of making a few new potions that Snape said there was no way I could do. And I could get you a collar!" the boy wrapped his pointer fingers and thumbs around my neck as if to pretend that they were a collar and I snapped at him to get him to stop.

It was uncomfortable for me to have hands wrapped around my neck; for as no one had actually tried to murder via the way of choking, it was still and easier way to die than most and there was little I could do to fight back if Potter decided to.

Seemingly Potter understood for he let go of my neck, but he still looked excited about this collar. I would not wear a collar! Definitely not! There was nothing Potter could say that would get me to wear a-

"I mean it could be a silver collar, or a green one. I like green." Potter broke off my thoughts. I growled to show that I did not like the idea of my having a collar to show that I was under the ownership of Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived-To-Surprise-Me-And-Be-A-Pain-In-The-Ass.

"You need a collar Herrani!" Potter exclaimed, "then I wouldn't have to carry you around all the time! You could be on your own in the house and no one – hopefully – try to hurt you!"

While that hopefully he threw in there certainly was not helping when it came to my thoughts on the collar, but it was becoming a bit of a more reasonable idea.

At least I wouldn't be stuck in Potter's room all the time... Not that I really like the idea of mixing with the Weasleys and other Order members, I hated them with a passion greater than that of even Potter.

"But that can wait until later," Potter told me, picking me up as he stood. "For now, we can simply relax while there's no one else around. No Lupin to ask questions, no Molly or other Weasley to shout at us or argue with, and no Dumbledore to generally make things all the more worse."

He laid himself down on a patch of grass that was brownish green color. The wizard put me down next to him while he himself lied down on the grass on his back with his head resting on his arms. I was reminded of my dream which I was capable of remembering great detail; something that almost never happened when I was a teenager myself and still had dreams often.

The only difference was that in my dream the grass had been a color of grass that was growing well that was long and untamed, and the place we were in was surrounded by trees.

Where I was with Potter now had short brown grass that showed it was most likely not watered enough and it was cut by the muggles in the area. There were few trees except the small forest which I came from, and there was a park nearby with muggle contraptions created for young children.

There was also no sun shining in this real life near reenactment of my dream, and this was perhaps one thing that I missed the most. I was still cold, and again it was more of an inside feeling than that of an outside kind where it was simply my skin that felt cold.

I felt as though I was shivering from the inside, and I was trying to figure out why. Perhaps it was because I was here with Potter and anything bad could happen to me? Perhaps Potter was such a great actor that all of this was an act?

But that was something that I doubted greatly, and it wasn't simply because I didn't want to believe that Potter had been acting this entire time. There are some things that no one could fake no matter how good of an actor you are; pure emotion is one of those things. And this is one of the things that I have seen in Potter.

I jumped onto Potter's chest and this was something that simply felt right to me to do. One of Potter's eyes opened to look at me as he leaned forwards ever so slightly. I ignored him looking at me and circled myself once on Potter's flat chest and stomach.

As I had before when getting to sleep I wrapped my head with my long tail and settled into sleep on top of Potter's chest while attempting to steal some of his warmth. Being outside in the fresh air was colder than being inside, but I liked being able to breathe in that fresh air, it made me feel better and like all of this was more real.

I could see why Potter might get to feeling cooped up inside the HQ of the Order, and why he often needed to get out. Being inside that place was enough to make anyone go crazy if they were stuck inside for any amount of time, especially when stuck inside with those types of people.

"Are you comfortable then?" Potter asked me, a light smile gracing his lips. I grunted to try and answer that, yes, I was, and it would be a good thing if he would not talk so that I would not have my entire world be shaken as he did.

He laughed and the vibrations sent down his chest stopped me from getting any more comfortable than I already was, this annoyed me. "It would seem like it."

I tucked my head deeper into my tail, trying to ignore the Potter that I was currently lying on top of; this proved hard, mainly because it was Potter and I was admittedly lying on top of him.

Why did I think this was a good idea? Because I woke up like this a few times and I thought it must have been comfortable if I had done it before.

It was comfortable. Until he started talking or laughing, which Potter did a lot of both. I looked up at hm chuckling at me and rolled my eyes at him; Potter simply shook his own head. Then his head snapped to the right and looked out to the sidewalk near the park.

I looked the same way and saw a mother who had two children with her. "Apparently it's time for the others to get here." I didn't know what others he was speaking of but it was obvious he didn't like that these others were coming.

"They are the people that live near here," he explained to me, "the muggles that is. Whenever they come here in the morning and I am here they don't like it at all."

I could understand that, I suppose. Potter was not a necessarily shifty looking character, but he also did not look like he was going to be the kind of guy that would do anything for you and risk his life for you. What was funny about that was that everyone in the Wizarding World expected him to while he was not the kind of guy to do that at all.

Though even I knew that Potter would never hurt a child and in that aspect he and I were alike in yet another thing. Taking out Potter who was an exception of great proportions in my eyes, I would never hurt a child and hadn't before that. Well, I had when I was a child myself; but I think that is acceptable.

"Well come on," Potter muttered to me as he sat up in a closely related way as in my dream. He picked me up from his lap which is where I landed as he sat up and I slid off his chest into his lap. I certainly didn't want to leave as I knew the only place we could go: Grimmauld Place.

I was carried to the sidewalk where we had seen the woman and her children earlier; a woman who was now standing next to the swing that Potter and I had been sitting on not too long ago, one of her own children sitting in the seat.

After being done looking across the street (though Potter knew there was no car coming... I think he was doing it because the children were watching him with some fascination. I think it was because there was a wolf being held in his hands) Potter crossed and walked back to the door of Grimmauld place.

It had disappeared so Potter had to wait for it to appear one again, and I watched with less awe than before. Now it just seemed a simple small thing when added to the list of all the surprising things I had learned about Potter and that he had told me about others.

When the door was opened and Potter walked in I was surprised to not find anyone inside waiting for us; and that there was no Molly waiting on the other side of the door to say how irresponsible it was for Potter to just leave without saying anything.

And yet there was no one on the other side and there was actually no noise to be coming from the kitchen either. As Potter climbed the stairs (and I once again dug my nails into Potter to assure myself he would not drop me – old habits do die hard) there was also no noise to be heard on the second floor of bedrooms.

That was except for the noise that was made by Potter's heart that I heard thumping very easily with my one ear placed right across where it would lie in his chest.

Potter made it to the third floor with no one having seemed to have heard us and we were soon to be found into the small room that was Potter's. "Well," Potter told me as he sat me down on the bed, "what to do now."

I shrugged in as much as a wolf could and Potter muttered, "Of course you don't know... I apologize for having had to have left so early, but normally that woman isn't quite so early."

I growled and the wizard understood that it was not at him that which I was angry at, but the woman that had interrupted our quiet peace outside in the grass. "I suppose we could eat," Potter told me, which I took as an offer to food.

I hadn't eaten for some time and I only realized how hungry I was until he mentioned it, so I nodded in acceptance of the good idea. Potter chuckled at my eagerness for food and started to go about getting me some, snapping his fingers and calling an elf named Dobby.


End file.
